UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

OR

Commission File Number 001-38470

Unity Biotechnology, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (650) 416-1192

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, based on the closing price of the shares of common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 30, 2021 was $202,106,452.

The number of shares of Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of March 10, 2022 was 68,927,851.

Table of Contents

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Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management with respect to future events or to our future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are often identified by the use of words such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “due,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “if,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “positioned,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” “until,” and similar expressions or variations. Forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include, but are not limited to, statements about:

We caution you that the foregoing list may not contain all of the forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. We discuss these risks in greater detail in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Also, forward-looking statements represent our management’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ

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materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains estimates, projections, and other information concerning our industry, our business and the markets for certain drugs, including data regarding the estimated size of those markets, their projected growth rates, and the incidence of certain medical conditions. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties, and actual events or circumstances may differ materially from events and circumstances reflected in this information. Unless otherwise expressly stated, we obtained this industry, business, market, and other data from reports, research surveys, studies, and similar data prepared by third parties, industry, medical and general publications, government data, and similar sources. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. In that regard, when we refer to one or more sources of this type of data in any paragraph, you should assume that other data of this type appearing in the same paragraph is derived from the same sources, unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires.

Trademarks

This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes trademarks, service marks, and trade names owned by us or other companies. All trademarks, service marks and trade names included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.

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PART I

Item 1. Business.

Overview

Our mission is to slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging. Our initial focus is on creating senolytic medicines to selectively eliminate senescent cells and thereby treat diseases of aging, such as ophthalmologic diseases, with the opportunity to explore neurology and other therapeutic areas.

Diseases of aging cause considerable economic, personal, and societal burden. As individuals age, the prevalence of chronic disease increases, with 80% of older Americans having at least one chronic disease and 50% having two or more. Diseases of aging negatively impact quality of life, are typically chronic, and progress from the time of onset until death. It is estimated that providing healthcare for people over the age of 65 costs four to five times more than for younger individuals. According to the United States Census Bureau, this elderly population of Americans is expected to increase nearly 50% by 2050, increasing the economic burden of aging dramatically. Any success increasing longevity without treating underlying diseases of aging would only serve to increase this burden.

We believe that by creating medicines that target fundamental aging mechanisms, we can reduce the economic, personal, and societal burden of aging and enhance quality of life.

In February 2022, we announced a restructuring to align resources to focus on our ongoing clinical programs and deliver on key development milestones. These actions to prioritize our ophthalmology programs and implement cost saving measures were designed to enable us to achieve multiple key clinical data readouts for UBX1325 as well as support the Tie2 and Tie2/VEGF bispecific program through advanced candidate nomination, with all other pipeline programs paused to focus resources on these advanced programs.

Targeting Cellular Senescence and Other Biologies of Aging

We believe that the accumulation of senescent cells is a fundamental mechanism of aging and a driver of many common diseases of aging. Cellular senescence is a natural biological state in which a cell permanently halts division. These cells are referred to as senescent. Senescent cells accumulate with age, secreting large quantities of more than 100 proteins, including inflammatory factors, proteases, fibrotic factors, and growth factors, that disturb the tissue micro-environment. This collection of secreted proteins is referred to as the Senescence Associated Secretory Phenotype, or SASP. In addition to its effects on tissue function, the SASP contains factors that induce senescence in neighboring cells, setting off a cascade of events that culminates in the formation of the functionally aged and/or diseased tissue that underlies a variety of age-related diseases.

We are developing senolytic medicines to eliminate senescent cells and thereby lower the production of the SASP, which we believe addresses a root cause of age-related diseases. Many existing therapeutics, such as antibodies, target single SASP factors, but fail to remove the cells that continually produce these factors. By stopping the production of the SASP at it source, we believe senolytic medicines could have a more durable impact by slowing, halting, or reversing particular diseases of aging, and shift the treatment paradigm from chronic to intermittent dosing. Less frequent dosing may also improve drug tolerability and patient adherence.

While our primary focus is on programs targeting cellular senescence, we are exploring other biologies of aging that may have a major impact on diseases of aging. For instance, we have a preclinical program targeting Tie2 signaling. Tie2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is implicated in regulating barrier function in blood vessels of the eye, which are affected in several prevalent eye diseases. Tie2 is also implicated in kidney disease. We also have a preclinical program targeting both Tie2 and VEGF (Tie2/VEGF bispecific) designed to neutralize VEGF and activate Tie2, two major pathways involved in retinal disease. We have outlicensed our program in α-Klotho, a protein that has been implicated in human cognition and may provide benefits in age-related cognitive dysfunctions.

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Our Pipeline

We are targeting specific biological mechanisms implicated in diseases of aging. Our core therapeutic approach targets cellular senescence, and we are currently advancing senolytic programs primarily in ophthalmologic disorders. In addition, we are advancing other programs based on other biologies of aging to include an agonistic antibody to the Tie2 receptor and a Tie2/VEGF bispecific to treat vascular eye disease.  

Ophthalmology Program

UBX1325 is our most advanced lead drug candidate for age-related diseases of the eye, including diabetic macular edema, or DME, age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, and diabetic retinopathy, or DR. UBX1967 is our back-up compound to UBX1325. Each of these drug candidates are potent small molecule inhibitors of Bcl-xL, a member of the Bcl-2 family of apoptosis regulating proteins, and has shown distinct tissue residence time profiles in preclinical studies. UBX1325 and UBX1967 are designed to inhibit the function of proteins that senescent cells rely on for survival. In our preclinical studies, we have demonstrated that targeting Bcl-xL with UBX1325 and UBX1967 preferentially eliminated senescent cells from diseased tissue while sparing cells in healthy tissue. In July 2020, we filed an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, to commence a Phase 1 study of UBX1325. In October 2020, we dosed our first patient in a Phase 1 clinical study of UBX1325 to evaluate ocular and systemic safety and tolerability of a single intravitreal injection of UBX1325 by the incidence of dose limiting toxicities and treatment emergent adverse events reported up to 24 weeks after administration. Based on prospectively determined safety criteria, the Phase 1 study was able to dose-escalate beyond the originally planned 5 mcg dose up to 10 mcg, which informed the final dose for the Phase 2a study in DME. In July 2021, we announced positive 8-week data from this Phase 1 study of UBX1325 in patients with DME and nAMD for whom anti-VEGF therapy was no longer considered beneficial. On October 5, 2021 we announced 12-week data, on November 9, 2021 we announced 24-week data, and on February 14, 2022 we announced 24-week data from an additionally-enrolled cohort of patients with AMD. UBX1325 was well-tolerated with no signs of intraocular inflammation or other related ocular adversities, and no dose-limiting toxicities or adversities that preclude advancing UBX1325 into later stage clinical development. In DME, following a rapid improvement in BCVA, a mean improvement of 9.5 ETDRS letters from baseline at 6 months in the higher dose cohorts (5, 10 mcg) and 6.9 ETDRS letters from baseline at 6 months in all dose cohorts was observed. In AMD, following a rapid improvement in BCVA, there were improvements or stabilization of both BCVA and CST through 6 months post-injection. In both diseases, the majority of patients treated with UBX1325 showed durable improvement in vision and did not meet objective rescue criteria requiring standard of care anti-VEGF treatment. Among patients who received anti-VEGF rescue, there was minimal change in either mean BCVA or CST following treatment in all but one AMD patient.

In May 2021, we initiated our Phase 2a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and durability of a single intravitreal injection of UBX1325 in a broader population of patients with DME and dosed our first patient in June 2021. Approximately 62 patients will be enrolled, randomized evenly between UBX1325 and sham-injected patients. An analysis of 12-week safety and efficacy data is expected by mid-2022, and patients will continue to be followed through 48 weeks post-treatment in a long-term follow-up. Endpoints being explored in the study include safety and tolerability, changes in BCVA, CST, SRF/IRF, proportion of patients requiring rescue treatment, and durability of effects.

In March 2022 we also enrolled our first patient in our Phase 2 proof-of-concept study in wet, or neovascular, AMD. This study is expected to randomize 46 patients with wet AMD who have had at least three intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF therapy in the preceding six months and who have residual sub- or intra-retinal fluid. Patients will have received their last anti-VEGF treatment approximately 4-8 weeks prior to screening, and all patients will be followed for approximately 24 weeks after dosing with either UBX1325 or aflibercept. We expect to share 16-week data from this Ph2 study in wet AMD in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Under our current amended license agreement with Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Limited, or Ascentage, we have, among other things, exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights and non-exclusive manufacturing rights to UBX1325 outside of Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) in all non-oncology indications. Inside Greater China, we will be obligated to develop, manufacture and commercialize UBX1325 through a joint venture with Ascentage. See “—Licenses and Collaborations.”

We also have a Tie2/VEGF bispecific program. Tie2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is implicated in regulating barrier function in blood vessels of the eye, which are affected in several prevalent eye diseases. Tie2 is an important key regulator of the vascular endothelium in the eye and dysregulation of this pathway leads to loss of

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barrier integrity and healthy vasculature. Preliminary studies suggest that cellular senescence in aging eyes may induce Ang-2 and therefore deactivate Tie2, leading ocular edema.

The Tie2/VEGF bispecific has dual functionality on two validated targets for retinal diseases. In addition to direct activation of Tie2, the bispecific candidate is designed to neutralize VEGF-A and VEGF-B. We believe that direct agonism of Tie2 may be superior to antagonism of Ang2 which relies on adequate levels of endogenous Ang1 to activate the Tie2 pathway. We have identified Tie2/VEGF bispecific molecules that have pharmacological activity on Tie2 and VEGF with potencies relevant for clinical benefit. Based on supporting preclinical data, we expect to designate an Advanced Candidate by mid-2022. We also seek to initiate pilot preclinical toxicology experiments to support nomination of a Development Candidate that should enable initiation of IND-enabling studies in the second half of 2023.

UBX2050 is our investigational, fully human anti-Tie2 agonist monoclonal antibody. Tie2 dysregulation is implicated in eye disease as well as other indications. UBX2050 is derived from an asset that was acquired from Achaogen, Inc. in June 2020 through an Asset Purchase Agreement. UBX2050 was selected based on its potential to activate the Tie2 receptor in vitro and has demonstrated encouraging activity in preclinical models of ocular disease. We believe UBX2050 may be an orthogonal approach to restoring barrier function and vascular function and are exploring a number of indications for UBX2050, expecting to nominate a Development Candidate in 2022.

Neurology Program

We believe cellular senescence may play a fundamental role in neurodegeneration. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that senescent cells accumulate in the nervous system during normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Several third-party preclinical proof of concept studies in mouse models of aging and neurodegeneration have provided preliminary evidence that the removal of senescent cells via senolytic drugs or genetic methods have the potential to improve brain function.

UBX2089, an α-Klotho hormone drug candidate, is a circulating hormone primarily produced in the kidneys and choroid plexus of the brain, which is being researched for multiple neurology indications. Human genetic evidence links α-Klotho to cognitive function, and we have observed pro-cognitive activity of recombinant α-Klotho in multiple preclinical rodent and non-human primate models. Our work focused on investigating the effect of UBX2089 on engaging CNS circuits in preclinical animal models with the intent of advancement to clinical studies, and in December 2021, we announced an exclusive licensing agreement of our α-Klotho asset to Jocasta Neuroscience, Inc. for development and commercialization.

Our Approach to Slowing, Halting, or Reversing Diseases of Aging

Targeting Cellular Senescence

Cellular senescence is a natural biological state in which a cell permanently halts division. Cells become senescent when they experience some form of unresolvable cellular stress. These cellular stress events result in the activation of the tumor suppressor protein p53, which drives the production of two cell-cycle dependent kinase inhibitors, or CDK inhibitors, p21 and p16. These two molecules are required for the establishment and subsequent maintenance of the senescent cell state. The first CDK inhibitor to be produced is p21, which works through subsequent pathways to block the production of numerous proteins that cells need to divide. The initial p21-driven signal is an acute response to cell damage and eventually decreases. In contrast, p16 permanently locks the cell into a non-dividing state and the production of p16 continues as long as the cell lives. Given that p16 production, in most cases, continues indefinitely and is believed to be produced almost exclusively in senescent cells, it is a widely used marker to identify and quantify senescent cells.

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The process through which stress mechanisms can induce cells to become senescent is illustrated in the figure below.

Figure 1: Illustration of induction of the senescent state and secretion of factors that can damage the microenvironment

How Senescent Cells Drive Diseases of Aging

Once cells become senescent, they begin secreting large quantities of proteins, including pro-inflammatory factors that recruit the immune system, proteases that remodel the extra-cellular matrix, pro-fibrotic factors that drive the formation of dysfunctional matrix, and growth factors that perturb the function of the tissue micro-environment. This collection of secreted proteins is referred to as the Senescence Associated Secretory Phenotype, or SASP. In addition to affecting normal tissue function, the SASP contains factors that induce senescence in neighboring cells, setting off a cascade of events that ultimately culminates in the formation of a functionally aged and/or diseased tissue that underlies a variety of age-related diseases.

Numerous SASP factors have been implicated as potentially contributing to human disease and it is now believed that the SASP is the primary means by which senescent cells drive specific diseases of aging. For example, a variety of single SASP factors (e.g., TNF-α and VEGF-A) have been demonstrated to drive human diseases by themselves and have been the target of well-known antibody therapeutics, including HUMIRA^® and EYLEA^®. While these antibodies are able to modify human disease by removing the activity of a single factor, we believe the clearance of senescent cells will remove the source of numerous SASP factors, providing improvement in both efficacy and duration-of-effect.  

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Our Therapeutic Paradigm

We were founded on the principle that the selective elimination of senescent cells and their accompanying SASP has the potential to slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging. Our insights into senescent cell biology allow us to identify senescence-driven diseases, target the senescent cells driving a particular disease, and selectively eliminate these cells. The figure below illustrates this process.

Figure 2: Illustration of the senolytic therapeutic hypothesis

In developing this approach, we have acquired significant expertise with respect to senescent cell survival pathways, which are the signaling systems that senescent cells rely on for survival. When these pathways are targeted with specifically designed molecules, senescent cells undergo programmed cell death. Through our research, we have identified several of these mechanistically distinct survival pathways, which differ depending on cell type and the tissue in which the senescent cells reside.

Advantages of Our Approach

We believe that senolytic medicines that selectively eliminate senescent cells from diseased tissues may have several advantages over other efforts to treat diseases of aging:

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Our Programs

Ophthalmology Programs Targeting Cellular Senescence

Unmet Need and Therapeutic Rationale

The majority of significant eye diseases are age-related, with the prevalence of vision-threatening disease increasing significantly over the age of 75. Of the 285 million individuals worldwide living with visual impairment, 65% are over the age of 50. The individual diseases that are associated with these figures include age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and diabetic eye diseases, all of which have a high prevalence and significant unmet need in either prevention or therapeutic options. The diseases we are evaluating as initial target indications for local administration of senolytic therapy in the eye are age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetic Macular Edema

Diabetic macular edema is a condition in which the metabolic abnormalities associated with diabetes, including high levels of blood glucose, or hyperglycemia, damage blood vessels in the central portion of the retina, or the macula, causing those vessels to leak fluid. The leaking fluid leads to swelling and subsequently to abnormalities of vision. The prevalence of diabetic macular edema, or DME, in the United States ranges from approximately 4.0% to 6.8% of people with diabetes who are 40 years of age or older. In 2019, it was estimated that more than 20 million people worldwide are affected by DME. There is a high burden of DME among non-Hispanic blacks and robust associations with higher hemoglobin A1c and longer duration of underlying diabetes.

Despite the success achieved with anti-VEGF treatment for retinal disease like AMD that involve the proliferation of abnormal blood vessels, or neovascularization, the impact of such treatment in DME has been more limited. This is due to the challenging nature of the therapeutic regimen (which entails monthly and or bimonthly IVT injections for up to two years), the number of cases that are refractory to anti-VEGF treatment (approximately 50% of DME patients), and the long-term complications of increased ischemia and retinal fibrosis associated with long-term treatment with anti-VEGF injections. As a result, there is an unmet need in this group of patients. Although VEGF has been identified as a major factor for neovascular disease, other factors, which we believe include SASP factors, are present in DME, including IL-1ß, TNF-a, IL-6, and TGF-ß, among others. Due to the multifactorial nature of the disease, a significant opportunity exists to develop a more comprehensive approach to the treatment of DME, such as senolysis, that targets the root cause of the disease.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in developed countries, particularly in people older than 60 years. In 2014, it was projected that by 2020 the number of people worldwide with AMD would be 196 million and could increase to 288 million by 2040. The prevalence of AMD increases significantly with advancing age, with a prevalence rate of 1.63% in those aged 65 to 69 years which increases to 11.73% in those aged 80 years or older. AMD affects central vision, impairing functions such as reading, driving, and facial recognition, and has a major impact on quality of life and the ability to live independently. AMD is defined in three stages: (i) “early,” in which visual function is affected in the presence of signs of age-related changes in the retina such as drusen and pigmentary changes; (ii) “intermediate,” in which increasing degrees of macular lipid deposition and structural changes are noted; and (iii) “late,” in which central vision is compromised due to abnormal blood vessel growth (known as “wet” AMD) or advanced atrophy of the retina (known as “dry” AMD). AMD is a heterogenous, complex, multifactorial disease, with inflammatory, degenerative, genetic, and vascular factors all contributing to its development and progression. The potential role of senescent cells and the associated SASP in driving the two main presentations of the disease, both wet and dry forms, could prove a unifying mechanism across this complex disorder.

Current standard of care for AMD is the administration of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor, or anti-VEGF, antibody drugs which control aspects of the wet form of the disease only. The development of therapeutic options for dry AMD has proven to be challenging and currently there are no approved therapies available to halt

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progression or reverse disease. And while wet AMD has been significantly impacted by anti-VEGF therapy, that approach is limited by the need for frequent eye injections over a long period of time, a significant percentage of patients not completing or being non-responsive or poorly-responsive to anti-VEGF therapy, and the contribution of multiple other mechanisms at play in the disease beyond VEGF. Thus, there is considerable potential for a senolytic approach to impact disease progression and achieve stabilization in AMD via modulation of senescent cell burden and the accompanying SASP. SASP factors in AMD include molecules that promote abnormal blood vessel growth, inflammation, and fibrosis, all of which have been implicated in various stages of the disease. We believe that a senolytic medicine could have a meaningful and prolonged impact on the AMD disease state and help restore the cellular microenvironment to a more normal, pre-senescent state.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy, or DR, is estimated to affect over 90 million people globally and approximately 28 million have vision-threatening stages of disease. It is a leading cause of vision loss in middle-aged and elderly people and impacts 8% of the U.S. population over age 65. Due to the increasing diabetic population arising from lifestyle changes in developing countries, the disease incidence is predicted to climb.

Diabetic retinopathy is a complex multifactorial disease, characterized by progression through a series of stages of increasing severity. The metabolic abnormalities associated with diabetes incite a variety of inflammatory and metabolic stress-induced events which leads to proliferation of new blood vessels and subsequent bleeding and swelling, which in turn causes scarring and vision loss or may lead to blood vessel occlusion, limiting blood flow and leading to damage to the retinal photoreceptors and nerves supplied by those vessels. The risk of developing diabetic retinopathy and its severity increase with the duration of underlying diabetes. It is also associated with poor glycemic control and the presence of additional coexistent diseases, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and impaired kidney function.

Current standard of care for diabetic retinopathy, which includes blood sugar control, anti-VEGF drugs, steroid injections, and laser therapy, is modestly effective. The limitations of existing therapy include general challenges with achieving diabetes control, the need for frequent intravitreal injections for the administration of anti-VEGF therapy, a significant percentage of patients not completing or being non-responsive to anti-VEGF therapy, and tissue destruction with permanent side effects from laser therapy. This presents a significant opportunity to design and develop a treatment paradigm, such as senolysis, that treats a root cause of the disease.

Evidence suggests that diabetic retinopathy is driven by the accumulation of senescent cells that are a direct result of elevated glucose levels in patients with diabetes. These senescent cells are triggered by local stresses in the retina and their accumulation drives the production of the accompanying ocular SASP factors, VEGF and platelet-derived growth factor, or PDGF. Overproduction of VEGF and IL-6 leads to ocular inflammation and abnormal blood vessel growth, key signatures of diabetic retinopathy. Thus, a senolytic approach could target multiple aspects of the underlying causes of diabetic retinopathy and ideally lead to greater therapeutic coverage in a wider range of patients. This elimination of senescent cell accumulation and accompanying SASP factors could limit further disease progression, reduce vessel leakage and inflammation, and prevent vision loss.

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Evidence for Senescence Burden in Human Disease and Human Biomarker Discovery: AMD, DR and DME

We evaluated the presence of senescent cells by IHC staining for p16 in post-mortem retinal donor tissue from individuals who carried a pre-mortem diagnosis of AMD, DR/DME, or neither. We believe the resulting data support our hypothesis that the accumulation of senescent cells is linked to AMD and DR/DME.  Quantification of IHC images indicated a significant increase in senescent cell burden (as measured by p16⁺ cells) in both AMD and DR patient globes (Figure 3).  

Figure 3: Quantification of senescent cell burden in AMD and DR/DME

We also compared the presence of senescence in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells, or HRMEC, versus retinal donor tissue from human DME/DR patients by evaluating the gene expression of several disease-relevant factors. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction, or qPCR, demonstrated elevations in the SASP factors VEGF, PDGF, IL1B, and TNF in senescent HRMEC, relative to non-senescent cells. These disease-relevant mediators have been reported to be elevated in DME/DR patients. We believe this data is consistent with our hypothesis that senescent cell accumulation and SASP factors play a central role in both DME and DR.

Mechanism of Action of UBX1325 (Inhibitors of the Bcl-2 Family)

UBX1325, our lead drug candidate (along with our backup compound in our ophthalmology program, UBX1967) is a potent small molecule inhibitor of specific members of the Bcl-2 family of apoptosis regulating proteins. The B-cell lymphoma 2, or Bcl-2, gene family encodes more than 20 proteins that regulate the intrinsic apoptosis pathway and are fundamental to the balance between cell survival and cell death. Inhibition of certain Bcl-2 family proteins results in cell death in certain cell types. Targeting this pathway has been studied extensively in connection with the search for new oncology medicines.  

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In Vitro and In Vivo Pharmacology Studies with UBX1325

We conducted an in vitro assessment of binding and efficacy of UBX1325 to determine both its potency for the Bcl-2 family protein targets and its potency at eliminating senescent cells. Biochemical assays for Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and Bcl-w yielded binding affinities in the sub-nanomolar range. UBX1325 is a phosphate pro-drug that releases the active parent molecule known as UBX0601. In order to assess the activity of UBX0601 on senescent cells, we used a cell-based assay with radiation-induced senescence. Senescent cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of UBX0601 for 72 hours. In this study, UBX0601 showed potent, concentration-dependent senolytic activity against human foetal lung cells, or IMR90, primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells, or HUVEC, and HRMEC as measured by reduction of senescent cell survival. UBX0601 also demonstrated selectivity for elimination of senescent HRMEC over non-senescent HRMEC which is observed as decreased potency in the non-senescent HRMEC (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Concentration- dependent induction of apoptosis in HRMEC cells by UBX0601 in vitro

We next studied the effects of UBX1325 in the retina in an in vivo model. We employed the mouse oxygen-induced retinopathy, or OIR, model, which provides an in vivo model of retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, and DR. In this model, UBX1325 demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in the degree of retinal neovascularization (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Intravitreal injection of UBX1325 reduced retinal neovascularization in the mouse OIR model

Based on these results in this key OIR model, we believe a single ocular injection of UBX1325 has the potential to functionally inhibit neovascularization and promote vascular repair. We believe the efficacy of UBX1325 in this OIR model is due to elimination of senescent cells and accompanying SASP that propagates senescence in retinal cells and promotes neovascularization of retinal vessels.

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We then studied the in vivo efficacy of UBX1325 in a streptozotocin-induced diabetic mouse, or STZ, model to understand its effects in a diabetic retina, which shows phenotypes similar to the human diseased condition. In this STZ model, UBX1325 demonstrated a significant reduction in vascular leakage as measured by Evans Blue dye permeation (Figure 6A). UBX1325 also demonstrated an improvement in the electroretinogram, or ERG, as a measure of retinal/photoreceptor function (Figure 6B). At a dose of 200 pmol delivered per eye, UBX1325 led to significant increase in the amplitude of both the A- and B-waves (p<0.01 and p<0.0001, respectively) of the ERG when compared to the vehicle control group.  Lastly, the expression of several disease-relevant cytokines was elevated in the diabetic retina, but attenuation of those factors was not observed after administration of UBX1325.

Figure 6:  Streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice have increased retinal vascular leakage (6A) and decreased A-wave amplitude in ERG (6B).  Administration of UBX1325 attenuated each of these disease-relevant endpoints.

Non-clinical toxicology studies of UBX1325, as well as its manufacturing and associated testing, have been completed to support the evaluation of the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of this molecule in further clinical studies.  

UBX1325 Clinical Data and Development Plan

In July 2020, we filed an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, to commence a Phase 1 study of UBX1325 in patients with DME or AMD. In October 2020, we dosed our first patient in a Phase 1 clinical study of UBX1325 to evaluate ocular and systemic safety and tolerability of a single intravitreal injection of UBX1325 by the incidence of dose limiting toxicities and treatment emergent adverse events reported up to 24 weeks after administration. Based on prospectively determined safety criteria, the Phase 1 study was able to dose-escalate beyond the originally planned 5 mcg dose up to 10 mcg, which informed the final dose for the Phase 2a study in DME. In July 2021, we announced positive data from this Phase 1 study of UBX1325 in patients with DME and nAMD for whom anti-VEGF therapy was no longer considered beneficial. On October 5, 2021 we announced 12-week data, on November 9, 2021 we announced 24-week data, and on February 14, 2022 we announced 24-week data from an additionally-enrolled cohort of patients with AMD. UBX1325 was well-tolerated with no signs of intraocular inflammation or other related ocular adversities, and no dose-limiting toxicities or adversities that preclude advancing UBX1325 into later stage clinical development. In DME, following a rapid improvement in BCVA, a mean improvement of 9.5 ETDRS letters from baseline at 6 months in the higher dose cohorts (5, 10 mcg) and 6.9 ETDRS letters from baseline at 6 months in all dose cohorts was observed. In AMD, following a rapid improvement in BCVA, there were improvements or stabilization of both BCVA and CST through 6 months post-injection. In both diseases, the majority of patients treated with UBX1325 showed durable improvement in vision and did not meet objective rescue criteria requiring standard of care anti-VEGF treatment. Among patients who received anti-VEGF rescue, there was minimal change in either mean BCVA or CST following treatment in all but one patient.

In May 2021, we initiated our Phase 2a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and durability of a single intravitreal injection of UBX1325 in a broader population of patients with DME and dosed our first patient in June 2021. Approximately 62 patients will be enrolled, randomized evenly between UBX1325 and sham-injected patients. An analysis of 12-week safety and efficacy data is expected by mid-2022, and patients will

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continue to be followed through 48 weeks post-treatment in a long-term follow-up. Endpoints being explored in the study include safety and tolerability, changes in BCVA, CST, SRF/IRF, proportion of patients requiring rescue treatment, and durability of effects.

In March 2022, we also enrolled our first patient in our Phase 2 proof-of-concept study in nAMD. This study is expected to randomize 46 patients with wet AMD who have had at least three intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF therapy in the preceding six months and who have residual sub- or intra-retinal fluid. Patients will have received their last anti-VEGF treatment approximately 4-8 weeks prior to screening, and all patients will be followed for approximately 24 weeks after dosing with either UBX1325 or aflibercept. We expect to share 16-week data from this Ph2 study in wet AMD in the fourth quarter of 2022.

As part of our continued commitment to our ophthalmology indications, we also continue to design alternative senolytic molecules with differing mechanisms of action. We are also focused on the physiochemical properties of our small molecules and are developing approaches to optimize solubility, permeability, and pharmacokinetic, or PK, parameters to create favorable ocular absorption, distribution, metabolism, and residency profiles.  

Ophthalmology Program Targeting Tie2 Signaling

The angiopoietin-Tie2 signaling axis is believed to play a fundamental role in vascular biology. Dysregulation of the expression of Tie2-regulating ligands angiopoietin-2 (a context dependent Tie2 antagonist ligand) and angiopoietin-1 (a Tie2 agonist ligand) has been observed in the vitreous of patients with DME, AMD, and other ocular diseases. We believe that a highly specific and potent Tie2-activating antibody will restore Tie2 signaling in ocular tissues, potentially leading to decreased vascular leak, lower levels of pathogenic angiogenesis, and a restoration of healthy blood vessels in ischemic areas of the eye. UBX2050 is an investigational Tie2-specific agonist monoclonal antibody that was selected based on its optimal binding and functional properties observed in in vitro assays. In primary human endothelial cells (HUVECs), UBX2050 treatment activated Tie2 as measured by increased levels of cellular phospho-Tie2, and potently activated downstream signal transduction pathways as measured by increased levels of phospho-Akt and phospho-Erk1/2 by western blotting (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Anti-Tie2 agonist antibody Tie2-3 (UBX2050) activated Tie2 signaling with a potency comparable to angiopoietin-1 in primary endothelial cells in vitro.

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The in vivo activity of UBX2050 has been explored in a laser-induced choroidal neovascularization model in mice. In this model, UBX2050 was administered to mice via the intraperitoneal route at a dose of 10 mg/kg, one day prior to laser-induced rupture of Bruch’s membrane. UBX2050 treatment, but not treatment with a non-specific isotype control antibody, significantly inhibited the area of choroidal neovascularization nine days post-injury as measured in retina/choroid flat mounts from treated animals (Figure 8). Based on this data, we believe UBX2050 has the potential to address pathogenic angiogenesis in the eyes of patients with ocular diseases such as AMD and DME.

Figure 8. UBX2050 treatment significantly inhibited choroidal neovascularization in a laser-induced injury model in mice.

We believe that the investigational Tie2 antibody (UBX2050) may be an orthogonal approach to restoring barrier function and vascular function. We are exploring a number of indications for UBX2050 and expect to nominate a Development Candidate in 2022.

Tie2/VEGF bispecific program

Tie2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is implicated in regulating barrier function in blood vessels of the eye, which are affected in several prevalent eye diseases. Tie2 is an important key regulator of the vascular endothelium in the eye and dysregulation of this pathway leads to loss of barrier integrity and healthy vasculature. Preliminary studies suggest that cellular senescence in aging eyes may induce Ang-2 and therefore deactivate Tie2, leading ocular edema. The Tie2/VEGF bispecific has dual functionality on two validated targets for retinal diseases. In addition to direct activation of Tie2, the bispecific candidate is designed to neutralize VEGF-A and VEGF-B. We believe that direct agonism of Tie2 may be superior to antagonism of Ang2 which relies on adequate levels of endogenous Ang1 to activate the Tie2 pathway. We have identified Tie2/VEGF bispecific molecules that have pharmacological activity on Tie2 and VEGF with potencies relevant for clinical benefit. Based on supporting preclinical data, we expect to designate an Advanced Candidate by mid-2022. We also seek to initiate pilot preclinical toxicology experiments to support nomination of a Development Candidate that should enable initiation of IND-enabling studies in the second half of 2023.

Neurology Program

We believe cellular senescence may play a fundamental role in neurodegeneration. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that senescent cells accumulate in the nervous system during normal aging and neurodegenerative disease. While the brain is composed of a diversity of post-mitotic (e.g., neurons) and proliferative (e.g., astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, endothelial cells, pericytes, neural progenitor cells, etc.) cells, glia appear to be uniquely prone to enter a senescent state. Interestingly, neurons do not readily express canonical markers of

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senescence, perhaps due to their terminally differentiated state. In the human cortex, a significant increase in p16 positive astrocytes has been observed in advanced age (78-90 years) relative to middle age (35-50 years) individuals. Cellular senescence has also been shown to be a hallmark of multiple neurodegenerative diseases. The appearance of senescent cells precedes the formation of neurofibrillary tangles and phosphorylated tau in the cortex of both human Alzheimer’s Disease and the mouse P301S MAPT tauopathy/FTD model, suggesting that cellular senescence may be an early driver of disease pathophysiology. In Parkinson’s Disease, elevated levels of p16 and several SASP factors have been detected in the human substantia nigra pars compacta, providing further evidence that astrocytes are prone to a senescent phenotype. Senescent astrocytes expressing elevated levels of p16, p21, and IL6 have also been detected in the human Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis brain and spinal cord.

Several preclinical third-party proof of concept studies in mouse models of aging and neurodegeneration have provided preliminary evidence that the removal of senescent cells via senolytic drugs or genetic methods can improve brain function. These early proof of concept studies provide encouraging evidence that senolysis can ameliorate the pathophysiology associated with neurodegeneration.

UBX2089, a α-Klotho hormone drug candidate, is a circulating hormone primarily produced in the kidneys and choroid plexus of the brain, which is being researched for multiple neurology indications. Human genetic evidence links α-Klotho to cognitive function, and we have observed pro-cognitive activity of recombinant α-Klotho in multiple preclinical rodent and non-human primate models. Our work focused on investigating the effect of UBX2089 on engaging CNS circuits in preclinical animal models with the intent of advancement to clinical studies, and in December 2021, we announced an exclusive licensing agreement of our α-Klotho asset to Jocasta Neuroscience, Inc. for development and commercialization

Manufacturing

Our success will depend on our ability to deliver reliable, high-quality preclinical and clinical drug supply. As we mature and approach commercial stage operations, securing reliable high-quality commercial drug supply will be critical. We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our drug candidates for clinical studies. Because we rely on contract manufacturers, we employ personnel with extensive technical, manufacturing, analytical, and quality experience. Our staff has strong project management discipline to oversee contract manufacturing and testing activities, and to compile manufacturing and quality information for our regulatory submissions.

Manufacturing is subject to extensive regulation that imposes various procedural and documentation requirements and that governs record keeping, manufacturing processes and controls, personnel, quality control and quality assurance, and more. Our systems and our contractors are required to be in compliance with these regulations, and compliance is assessed regularly through monitoring of performance and a formal audit program.

Our current supply chains for our lead drug candidates involve several manufacturers that specialize in specific operations of the manufacturing process, specifically, raw materials manufacturing, drug substance manufacturing, drug product manufacturing, and drug product labeling, packaging, and storage. We currently operate under purchase order programs for our drug candidates with Material Service Agreements in place, and we intend to establish long-term supply agreements in the future. We believe our current manufacturers have the scale, the systems, and the experience to supply all planned clinical studies.

We do not currently require commercial manufacturing capabilities. Should our needs change, we will likely need to scale up our manufacturing processes to enable commercial launch. To ensure continuity in our supply chain, we plan to establish supply arrangements with alternative larger scale suppliers for certain portions of our supply chain, as appropriate.

Commercialization Plan

We do not currently have, nor do we expect to have in the near term, any FDA-approved drugs in our portfolio. Therefore, we have not yet built an infrastructure for sales, marketing, or commercial distribution.

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Should any of our drug candidates move into pivotal clinical trials intended to support an application for market authorization, we intend to develop a plan to commercialize them in the United States and other key markets, through an internal infrastructure or external partnerships.

Competition

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including the field of research in aging, are typically rife with rapid technological developments, bold competition, and dependence on intellectual property. Like any biotechnology company, we face competition from multiple sources, including large or established pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and wellness companies, academic research institutions, government agencies, and private institutions. We believe our drug candidates will prevail amid the competitive landscape through their efficacy, safety, administration methods and convenience, cost, public and institutional demand, intellectual property portfolio, and treatment of the root cause of many diseases of aging.

We are aware of other companies seeking to develop treatments to prevent or treat diseases of aging through various biological pathways, including several large pharmaceutical companies that have exploratory programs as well as a number of earlier-stage companies. Most of these companies are either in early stages of discovery research in senescence or have not yet disclosed pipeline candidates or mechanisms of interest, and those companies that have disclosed pipeline candidates are targeting other pathways. Hence, we believe that we currently have the most advanced program addressing cellular senescence.

Our drug candidates are likely to compete against current therapies from a wide range of companies and technologies, including therapies for ophthalmology diseases: current standard of care treatments include anti-VEGF antibodies (bevacizumab, ranibizumab, aflibercept, brolucizumab); VEGF/Ang2 bispecific antibodies (faricimab); intravitreal steroid (dexamethasone); and pan-retinal photocoagulation by laser for both neovascular AMD, DR, and DME. There is no currently available treatment for geographic atrophy form of AMD. There are potentially disease-modifying therapeutics are being developed by several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Roche/Genentech and Regeneron.

Many of our competitors, either alone or with strategic partners, have substantially greater financial, technical, and human resources than we do. Accordingly, our competitors may be more successful in obtaining approval for treatments and achieving widespread market acceptance, rendering our treatments obsolete or non-competitive. Accelerated merger and acquisition activity in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. These companies also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical study sites, patient registration for clinical studies, and acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. Our commercial opportunity could be substantially limited in the event that our competitors develop and commercialize products that are more effective, safer, more tolerable, more convenient, or less expensive than our comparable products. In geographies that are critical to our commercial success, competitors may also obtain regulatory approvals before us, resulting in our competitors building a strong market position in advance of our products’ entry. We believe the factors determining the success of our programs will be the efficacy, safety, and convenience of our drug candidates.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends in large part upon our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our products and technologies and to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others. Our policy is to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing U.S. and foreign patent applications that relate to our proprietary technologies, inventions and improvements that are important to the development and implementation of our business. We also rely on trademarks, know-how, continuing technological innovation and licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position.

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Patent Portfolio

Our patent portfolio consists of a combination of issued and allowed patents and pending patent applications that are owned or co-owned by us and/or licensed to us from third parties. The majority of these patents and applications cover our cellular senescence program, and others pertain to our programs that target aging mechanisms beyond cellular senescence, including the administration of a Tie2 receptor agonist or α-Klotho hormone. As of March 1, 2022, we own, co-own, or have an exclusive license in certain fields of use to more than 150 patents and pending applications in the United States and foreign jurisdictions. This portfolio includes 47 issued and allowed U.S. patents and applications and 38 granted and allowed foreign patents and applications, respectively.

In general, patents have a term of 20 years from the earliest claimed non-provisional priority date. The patent term may be extendible by up to five years in certain countries by means of patent term extension depending on the regulatory pathway and the remaining term upon marketing approval. Certain other patents and patent applications directed to our patent portfolio, if they were to issue, may have later expiration dates. Any pending U.S. provisional application is not eligible to become an issued patent until, among other things, we file a non-provisional patent application within 12 months of filing the related provisional patent application.  If we do not timely file any non-provisional patent application, we may lose our priority date with respect to our provisional patent application and any patent protection on the inventions disclosed in our provisional patent application.

Ophthalmology Programs

We have a license with Ascentage to two patent families of issued and pending composition of matter patents directed to specific Bcl-xL inhibitors including UBX0601, the active parent molecule of our lead drug candidate, UBX1325. This license grants us exclusive development and commercialization rights and non-exclusive manufacturing rights to UBX1325 for all non-oncology indications outside of Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). Inside Greater China, we will be obligated to develop, manufacture and commercialize UBX1325 through a joint venture with Ascentage. Patents in these two patent families have been granted in the United States, South Korea, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, Japan and Europe, and others are pending in China, India, and Singapore. Patents that issue from these two patent families are expected to expire in 2032 and 2034, excluding any patent term adjustments or extensions.

Our license agreement with Ascentage also grants us the right to continue our preclinical development efforts with UBX1967 (our back-up compound to UBX1325) until the time we wish to submit an IND for UBX1967, at which point we would be required to either enter into a separate license agreement with Ascentage covering UBX1967.  

We co-own a patent family encompassing the use of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL inhibitors generally to treat various age-related eye diseases by targeting senescent cells (which also covers aspects of our neurology programs) with the Buck Institute and the Mayo Clinic. We have exclusive licenses from each of the Buck Institute and the Mayo Clinic to this patent family in the field of senescence. To date, three U.S. patents have issued in this patent family which are directed to treating age related eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration. Other patent applications are pending in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Mexico, and Japan. Patents that issue from this family are expected to expire in 2035, excluding any patent term adjustments and patent term extensions.

We also solely own a patent family that specifically claims the composition of matter of UBX1325 and closely related compounds, as well as general methods of use of UBX1325. As of March 1, 2022 we have two issued U.S. patents and one pending U.S. application as well as pending applications in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Future patents issued from this family are expected to expire in 2039, excluding any patent term adjustments and patent term extensions.

We solely own a patent family that specifically covers the sequence, epitope, alternative antibody formats, and use of UBX2050 not only for ophthalmic diseases, but also other indications, including kidney. Future patents issuing from this family are expected to expire in 2040, excluding any patent term adjustments and patent term extensions.

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Neurology Program

We have an exclusive license with The Regents of the University of California for a patent family directed to methods of treatment and the use of α-Klotho hormone for the development of human therapeutics to treat cognitive decline. As of March 1, 2022, our patent portfolio includes three issued U.S. patents, an issued patent in Australia, Europe, and Japan, one pending patent application in each of the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, and India and two pending patent applications in China. Patents that issue from this family are expected to expire in 2036, excluding any patent term adjustments and patent term extensions. In December 2021, we announced an exclusive agreement licensing our α-Klotho asset to Jocasta Neuroscience, Inc. for development and commercialization.

We co-own a patent family encompassing the use of Bcl-2/xL inhibitors generally to treat neurodegenerative diseases by targeting senescent cells (which also covers aspects of our ophthalmology program) with the Buck Institute and the Mayo Clinic. We have exclusive licenses from each of the Buck Institute and the Mayo Clinic to this patent family in the field of senescence. Currently, we co-own a pending U.S. patent application for the use of Bcl-xL inhibition to eliminate senescent cells to treat neurodegenerative disorders. Patents that issue from this family are expected to expire in 2035, excluding any patent term adjustments and patent term extensions.

Other Intellectual Property

Our continuing research and development, technical know-how, and contractual arrangements supplement our intellectual property protection to maintain our competitive position. Our policy is to require inventors who are identified on any Company-owned patent applications to assign rights to us. We also have confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, and other advisors to protect our proprietary information. Our policy is to require third parties that receive material UNITY confidential information to enter into confidentiality agreements with us.

We also protect our brand through procurement of trademark rights. As of March 1, 2022, the mark UNITY BIOTECHNOLOGY^® and the UNITY BIOTECHNOLOGY^® design logo are registered in the United States, the European Union, or EU, China, and in Japan, as well as other foreign jurisdictions. The mark UNITY^® is also registered in the United States and in the EU. In order to supplement protection of our brand, we have also registered several internet domain names.

Licenses and Collaborations

Description of Ascentage Agreements

In February 2016, we entered into several related agreements with Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Limited, or Ascentage, which is headquartered in Suzhou, China and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. These agreements include a compound library and option agreement, which includes a template form of license agreement and in January 2019 we entered into a license agreement granting us development and commercialization rights to UBX1967 and the right to continue preclinical development efforts with UBX1325, which is a phosphate pro-drug that releases the active parent molecule known as UBX0601, or the Original Bcl Agreement. This Original Bcl Agreement was amended in the fourth quarter of 2019 to remove certain field and territory limitations and to amend the schedule of licensed patents related to UBX1967, and then amended again in the first quarter of 2020 to further amend and restate the schedule of licensed patents. This Original Bcl Agreement was amended a third time in June 2020 to switch the status of UBX1967 from Licensed Compound to back-up compound, and conversely the status of UBX1325 from back-up to Licensed Compound.  

Library Agreement and License Template

The compound library and option agreement, or library agreement, gives us access to Ascentage’s existing collection of Bcl-2/xL inhibitor compounds, as well as any additional Bcl-2/xL inhibitor compounds developed during the term of the library agreement, in order to screen such compounds for senolytic activity. The library

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agreement permits us to nominate up to 15 such compounds at any given time for further evaluation and subsequently to select up to five of such selected compounds for preclinical development and an additional five as back-up compounds. Prior to commencing IND-enabling toxicology studies on an Ascentage compound of interest, we must formally designate the compound as a development candidate under the library agreement and enter into a separate license agreement with Ascentage covering that compound on the terms set forth in the template form of license agreement. The library agreement includes exclusivity provisions that (i) prohibit us from developing Ascentage Bcl-2/xL compounds for oncology indications, (ii) prohibit Ascentage from researching or developing certain Bcl-2/xL compounds for non-oncology indications under any circumstances, and (iii) prohibit Ascentage from researching or developing certain other Bcl-2/xL compounds for a specified set of non-oncology indications under certain circumstances. The term of the library agreement is determined by a formula that is linked to the term of the research services agreement, and expired in February 2022.

Under the terms of the template form of license agreement, Ascentage will grant us the following rights with respect to a selected Ascentage compound for all non-oncology indications: (i) exclusive worldwide development rights, and (ii) exclusive commercialization rights outside of Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). Inside Greater China, we will be obligated to commercialize the licensed Ascentage compound through a joint venture with Ascentage. Ascentage will also have the right to manufacture at least 50% of our supply requirements of the licensed compound, provided they achieve and maintain certain manufacturing quality standards. We will be obligated to make certain milestone payments in the form of shares of our common stock, subject to the equity cap described below, and other milestone payments in in the form of cash, not to exceed $38.0 million per licensed product, based in each case, upon the achievement of certain clinical and commercial milestones. We will also be required to make low-single digit royalty payments on net sales of the licensed product under the agreement. Our royalty payment obligations will expire on a country-by-country basis and licensed product-by-licensed product basis upon the later to occur of (i) the expiration of the last valid claim of a licensed patent covering such licensed product in such country, (ii) the expiration of regulatory exclusivity for such licensed product in such country, and (iii) the tenth anniversary of the first commercial sale of such licensed product in any country. We have the right to credit certain royalty payments that we pay to third parties with respect to certain licensed products against our royalty obligation to Ascentage. Any license agreement may be terminated by either party due to the other party’s uncured material breach of the agreement.

Under the library agreement, we issued 133,334 shares of our common stock as an upfront license fee. Of such shares, 80% were issued to Ascentage and 20% were issued to the University of Michigan in satisfaction of Ascentage’s obligation to pay a related sublicense fee to the University of Michigan. we will also be obligated to issue 133,334 shares of our common stock as an upfront license fee to Ascentage and the University of Michigan for each of the next two license agreements. The aggregate number of shares of our common stock we could be required to issue to Ascentage and the University of Michigan pursuant to the library agreement, and any additional license agreements we enter into pursuant to the library agreement is capped at (i) 933,337 shares of common stock in the event there is only one licensed product, and (ii) 1,333,338 shares of common stock in the event there are two or more licensed products, in each case to be issued based on our achievement of certain preclinical and clinical development and sales milestone events.

UBX1967 License Agreement

In January 2019, we entered into a license agreement, the Bcl license agreement, with Ascentage granting rights to UBX1967 (which Ascentage calls APG1197) on the template license terms described above, including up to $38.0 million of potential cash milestone payments and low-single digit royalties. Under the terms of this license agreement, Ascentage has granted us exclusive development and commercialization rights and non-exclusive manufacturing rights to UBX1967 for all non-oncology indications outside of Greater China. Inside Greater China, we will be obligated to develop, manufacture and commercialize UBX1967 through a joint venture with Ascentage. The Bcl license agreement also grants us the right to continue our preclinical development efforts with another Ascentage-controlled Bcl-2/xL inhibitor compound. In the event we wish to pursue clinical development of the additional compound as well as UBX1967, we will be required to enter into a separate license agreement with Ascentage on the template license terms described above. In connection with the Bcl license agreement, we issued 106,667 shares of common stock to Ascentage and 26,667 shares of common stock to the University of Michigan as an upfront license fee in the first quarter of 2019. The Bcl license agreement may be terminated by either party due to an uncured material breach of the agreement but the other party, and we may terminate for convenience on a

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licensed product-by-licensed product basis. In November 2019, we entered into an amendment to the Bcl license agreement that removed certain field and territory limitations from a provision granting us exclusivity and amended the schedule of licensed patents to include certain additional patents relating to UBX1967. In January 2020, we entered into a second amendment to the Bcl license agreement which further amended and restated the schedule of licensed patents. In June 2020, we entered into a third amendment to the Bcl license agreement. Under the terms of the original Bcl license agreement, Ascentage granted us exclusive development and commercialization rights and non-exclusive manufacturing rights to UBX1967 as well as the right to continue our preclinical development efforts with another Ascentage-controlled Bcl inhibitor compound, known as UBX1325, that served as a back-up compound to UBX1967. Under the terms of the third amendment to the Bcl license agreement, the status of UBX1967 and UBX1325 were switched such that UBX1325 became the licensed compound and UBX1967 became the back-up compound under the Bcl license agreement. As a result of the first patient dosed in the UBX1325 study in the fourth quarter of 2020, we triggered, under the Bcl license agreement, a milestone payment of $1.0 million, which we elected to settle in shares of our common stock to Ascentage Pharma. As a result of the first patient dosed in the Phase 2a UBX1325 study in June 2021, the Company additionally triggered a milestone payment of $2.0 million for Ascentage Pharma, which the Company elected to settle in shares of the Company’s common stock.

Additional License Agreements

We are party to three additional license agreements that support our senescence-related patent portfolio. These agreements are with The John Hopkins University, or JHU, an entity affiliated with the Mayo Clinic, or Mayo, and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, or Buck, and provide us with a worldwide, exclusive, sublicensable license under those counter-parties’ rights to a patent family that is co-owned by JHU, Buck, Mayo and us to develop and commercialize licensed products, including for the treatment of senescence-related diseases in therapeutic areas including osteoarthritis, ophthalmology, and neurological diseases.

Under our June 2013 license with Mayo, we may be obligated to make development and sales milestone payments to Mayo of up to $10.8 million in the aggregate, to pay Mayo a percentage of certain sublicensing revenue that is between the high-single digits and the low-teens, and to pay Mayo running royalty payments ranging from less than 1% to low-single digit percentages on net sales of licensed products. Our obligation to pay running royalties to Mayo under the agreement is subject to a non-material minimum annual royalty and could potentially extend until January 1, 2037. We also issued 677,966 shares of our common stock to Mayo under this agreement. Our agreement with Mayo continues until the later of (i) the expiration of the last valid claim within the licensed patents and (ii) 13 years after first commercial sale of the first licensed product. We may terminate the agreement for convenience, and either party may terminate the agreement for the other party’s uncured material breach.

Under our January 2017 license with Buck, which includes similar rights to a second patent family that is co-owned only by Buck and us, we may be obligated to make development and sales milestone payments to Buck of up to $5.4 million in the aggregate, to pay Buck a mid-single digit percentage of certain sublicensing revenue, and to pay Buck running royalty payments ranging from less than 1% to low-single digit percentages on net sales of licensed products. Our obligation to pay running royalties to Buck under the agreement is subject to a non-material minimum annual royalty and could potentially extend until January 1, 2037. We also issued 132,203 shares of our common stock to Buck under this agreement. The term of our license agreement with Buck continues until the expiration of all our payment obligations to Buck thereunder. We may terminate the agreement for convenience, and either party may terminate the agreement for the other party’s uncured material breach.

Under our November 2016 license with JHU, which relates to patents that are relevant only to osteoarthritis indications, we may be obligated to make development and sales milestone payments to JHU in the form of equity (22,033 shares of our common stock) and cash (of up to $2.6 million in the aggregate), to pay JHU a low-single digit percentage of certain sublicensing revenue, and to pay JHU a running royalty payment of less than 1% on net sales, in all cases, with respect to licensed products for the treatment of osteoarthritis, which we refer to as Royalty Products. Our obligation to pay running royalties to JHU under the agreement is subject to a non-material minimum annual royalty, and may continue on a country-by-country basis until such time as neither the manufacture, sale, nor use of such Royalty Product would infringe a valid claim of a licensed patent in the applicable country. Our agreement with JHU continues on a country-by-country basis until the expiration of the last to expire licensed patent in such country (or until twenty years after the effective date if no licensed patent issues in such country). We may

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terminate the agreement for convenience (as a whole, with respect to a licensed product, or with respect to a particular licensed patent). Either party may terminate the agreement for the other party’s uncured material breach or bankruptcy or insolvency-related events.

We are also party to license agreements relating to our α-Klotho program. In May 2019, we entered into an exclusive license with The Regents of the University of California for intellectual property and know-how for the development of human therapeutics to treat cognitive decline in exchange for development and sales milestones and low single-digit percentages on net sales of licensed products. In December 2021, we signed an exclusive license agreement licensing our rights in the α-Klotho asset to Jocasta Neuroscience, Inc. for development and commercialization, under which we received a $5 million upfront cash payment from Jocasta, and we will also receive additional payments based on development milestones, approval milestones, and sales-based royalties, per indication.

Government Regulation

Government authorities in the United States (including federal, state and local authorities) and in other countries, extensively regulate, among other things, the manufacturing, research and clinical development, marketing, labeling and packaging, storage, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, advertising and promotion, pricing, and export and import of pharmaceutical products, such as those we are developing. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.

U.S. Government Regulation

In the United States, the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and its implementing regulations, and biologics under the FDCA and the Public Health Service Act, or PHSA, and its implementing regulations. FDA approval is required before any new unapproved drug or dosage form, including a new use of a previously approved drug, can be marketed in the United States. Drugs and biologics are also subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations. If we fail to comply with applicable FDA or other requirements at any time during the drug development process, clinical testing, the approval process or after approval, we may become subject to administrative or judicial sanctions. These sanctions could include the FDA’s refusal to approve pending applications, license suspension or revocation, withdrawal of an approval, warning letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, civil penalties or criminal prosecution.

The process required by the FDA before drug candidates may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:

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An IND is a request for authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational new drug product to humans. The central focus of an IND submission is on the general investigational plan and the protocol(s) for human studies. The IND also includes results of animal and in vitro studies assessing the toxicology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacology and pharmacodynamic characteristics of the product; chemistry, manufacturing and controls information; and any available human data or literature to support the use of the investigational new drug. An IND must become effective before human clinical studies may begin. An IND will automatically become effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless before that time the FDA raises concerns or questions related to the proposed clinical studies. In such a case, the IND may be placed on clinical hold and the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns or questions before clinical studies can begin. Accordingly, submission of an IND may or may not result in the FDA allowing clinical studies to commence.

Clinical Studies

Clinical studies involve the administration of the investigational new drug to human subjects under the supervision of qualified investigators in accordance with Good Clinical Practice regulations, or GCPs, which include the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for their participation in any clinical study. Clinical studies are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the study, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety and the efficacy criteria to be evaluated. A protocol for each clinical study and any subsequent protocol amendments must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. Additionally, approval must also be obtained from each clinical study site’s IRB before the studies may be initiated, and the IRB must monitor the study until completed. There are also requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical studies and clinical study results to public registries.

The clinical investigation of a drug or biologic is generally divided into three or four phases. Although the phases are usually conducted sequentially, they may overlap or be combined.

A pivotal study is a clinical study that adequately meets regulatory agency requirements for the evaluation of a drug candidate’s efficacy and safety such that it can be used to justify the approval of the product. Generally, pivotal studies are Phase 3 studies, but the FDA may accept results from Phase 2 studies if the study design provides a well-controlled and reliable assessment of clinical benefit, particularly in situations where there is an unmet medical need and the results are sufficiently robust.

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The FDA, the IRB or the clinical study sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical study at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Additionally, some clinical studies are overseen by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the clinical study sponsor, known as a data safety monitoring board or committee. This group provides authorization for whether or not a study may move forward at designated check points based on access to certain data from the study. A sponsor may also suspend or terminate a clinical study based on evolving business objectives and/or competitive climate.

Submission of an NDA or BLA to the FDA

Assuming successful completion of all required testing in accordance with all applicable regulatory requirements, detailed investigational new drug product information is submitted to the FDA in the form of an NDA or BLA requesting approval to market the product for one or more indications. Under federal law, the submission of most NDAs and BLAs is subject to a substantial application user fee. Applications for orphan drug products are exempted from the NDA and BLA application user fees.

An NDA or BLA must include all relevant data available from pertinent preclinical and clinical studies, including negative or ambiguous results as well as positive findings, together with detailed information relating to the product’s chemistry, manufacturing, controls and proposed labeling, among other things. Data can come from company-sponsored clinical studies intended to test the safety and effectiveness of a use of a product, or from a number of alternative sources, including studies initiated by investigators. To support marketing approval, the data submitted must be sufficient in quality and quantity to establish the safety and effectiveness of the investigational product to the satisfaction of the FDA.

Once an NDA or BLA has been submitted, the FDA’s goal is to review the application within ten months after it accepts the application for filing, or, if the application receives priority review, six months after the FDA accepts the application for filing. The review process is often significantly extended by FDA requests for additional information or clarification.

Before approving an NDA or BLA, the FDA typically will inspect the facility or facilities where the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, before approving an NDA or BLA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP.

The FDA is required to refer an application for a novel drug or biologic to an advisory committee or explain why such referral was not made. An advisory committee is a panel of independent experts, including clinicians and other scientific experts, that reviews, evaluates and provides a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations carefully when making decisions and typically follows such recommendations.

The FDA’s Decision on an NDA or BLA

After the FDA evaluates the NDA or BLA and conducts inspections of manufacturing facilities, it may issue an approval letter or a Complete Response Letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug or biologic with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A Complete Response Letter indicates that the review cycle of the application is complete and the application is not ready for approval. A Complete Response Letter may require additional clinical data and/or an additional pivotal Phase 3 clinical study(ies), and/or other significant, expensive and time-consuming requirements related to clinical studies, preclinical studies or manufacturing. Even if such additional information is submitted, the FDA may ultimately decide that the NDA or BLA does not satisfy the criteria for approval. The FDA could also approve the NDA or BLA with a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, to mitigate risks, which could include medication guides, physician communication plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and

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other risk minimization tools. The FDA also may condition approval on, among other things, changes to proposed labeling, development of adequate controls and specifications or a commitment to conduct one or more post-market studies or clinical studies. Such post-market testing may include Phase 4 clinical studies and surveillance to further assess and monitor the product’s safety and effectiveness after commercialization. Also, new government requirements, including those resulting from new legislation, may be established, or the FDA’s policies may change, which could delay or prevent regulatory approval of our products under development.

Expedited Review and Accelerated Approval Programs

The FDA has various programs, including fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation, accelerated approval, and priority review, that are intended to expedite the development and approval of new drugs and biologics that address unmet medical needs in the treatment of serious or life-threatening diseases and conditions. To be eligible for a fast track designation, the FDA must determine, based on the request of a sponsor, that a product is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and demonstrates the potential to address an unmet medical need. The FDA may review sections of the NDA for a fast-track product on a rolling basis before the complete application is submitted, if the sponsor provides a schedule for the submission of the sections of the NDA, the FDA agrees to accept sections of the NDA and determines that the schedule is acceptable, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the NDA.

The FDA may give a priority review designation to drugs or biologics that are designed to treat a serious condition and, if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness compared to available therapies. A priority review means that the goal for the FDA to review an application is six months, rather than the standard review of ten months. These six- and 10-month review periods are measured from the “filing” date rather than the receipt date for NDAs for new molecular entities, which typically adds approximately two months to the timeline for review and decision from the date of submission. Products that are eligible for fast-track designation may also be eligible for priority review.

In addition, products studied for their safety and effectiveness in treating serious or life-threatening illnesses and that provide meaningful therapeutic benefit over existing treatments may be eligible for accelerated approval and may be approved on the basis of adequate and well-controlled clinical studies establishing that the product has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. As a condition of approval, the FDA may require a sponsor of a drug receiving accelerated approval to perform post-marketing studies to verify and describe the predicted effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical endpoint, and the drug or biologic may be subject to expedited withdrawal procedures if the sponsor fails to conduct the required post-marketing studies, or such post-marketing studies fail to confirm the predicted clinical benefit.

Moreover, under the provisions of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, or FDASIA, passed in July 2012, a sponsor can request designation of a product candidate as a “breakthrough therapy.” A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug or biologic that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. This designation includes all of the features of fast track designation, as well as more intensive FDA interaction and guidance. The breakthrough therapy designation is a distinct status from both accelerated approval and priority review, but these can also be granted to the same product candidate if the relevant criteria are met. The FDA must take certain actions, such as holding timely meetings and providing advice, intended to expedite the development and review of an application for approval of a breakthrough therapy.

Fast track designation, priority review, and breakthrough therapy designation do not change the standards for approval but may expedite the development or approval process. Even if a product qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification or decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened.

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Post-Approval Requirements

Drugs and biologics marketed pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, requirements relating to recordkeeping, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, advertising and promotion and reporting of adverse experiences with the product. After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims are subject to prior FDA review and approval. There also are continuing, annual user fee requirements.

Manufacturers are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and state agencies for compliance with cGMP requirements. Changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated and, depending on the significance of the change, may require prior FDA approval before being implemented. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting and documentation requirements upon us and any third-party manufacturers that we may decide to use. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain compliance with cGMP and other aspects of regulatory compliance.

Discovery of previously unknown problems with a product or the failure to comply with applicable requirements may result in restrictions on a product, manufacturer or holder of an approved NDA or BLA, including withdrawal or recall of the product from the market or other voluntary, FDA-initiated or judicial action that could delay or prohibit further marketing. Also, new government requirements, including those resulting from new legislation, may be established, or the FDA’s policies may change, which could delay or prevent regulatory approval of our products under development.

The FDA may withdraw approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical studies to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution restrictions or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:

The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of products that are placed on the market. Drugs may be promoted only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability.

Orphan Designation and Exclusivity

Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan designation to a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition, defined as a disease or condition with a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 individuals in the United States and when there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available the drug or biologic in the United States will be recovered from sales in the United States for that drug or biologic. Orphan drug designation

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must be requested before submitting a BLA or NDA. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the generic identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA.

If a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for a particular active ingredient for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan product exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full NDA or BLA, to market the same drug or biologic for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity or if FDA finds that the holder of the orphan drug exclusivity has not shown that it can assure the availability of sufficient quantities of the orphan drug to meet the needs of patients with the disease or condition for which the drug was designated. Orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent the FDA from approving a different drug or biologic for the same disease or condition, or the same drug or biologic for a different disease or condition. Among the other benefits of orphan drug designation are tax credits for certain research and a waiver of the BLA or NDA application user fee.

A designated orphan drug many not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. In addition, orphan drug exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or, as noted above, if the second applicant demonstrates that its product is clinically superior to the approved product with orphan exclusivity or the manufacturer of the approved product is unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.

Biosimilars and Exclusivity

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or the Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, includes a subtitle called the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, which created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-licensed reference biological product. To date, only a handful of biosimilars have been licensed under the BPCIA, although numerous biosimilars have been approved in Europe. The FDA has issued several guidance documents outlining an approach to review and approval of biosimilars.

Biosimilarity, which requires that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity and potency, can be shown through analytical studies, animal studies and a clinical study or studies. Interchangeability requires that a product is biosimilar to the reference product and the product must demonstrate that it can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products that are administered multiple times to an individual, the biologic and the reference biologic may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biologic. However, complexities associated with the larger, and often more complex, structures of biological products, as well as the processes by which such products are manufactured, pose significant hurdles to implementation of the abbreviated approval pathway that are still being worked out by the FDA.

Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing that applicant’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical studies to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of its product. The BPCIA also created certain exclusivity periods for biosimilars approved as interchangeable products. At this juncture, it is unclear whether products deemed “interchangeable” by the FDA will, in fact, be readily substituted by pharmacies, which are governed by state pharmacy law.

A biological product can also obtain pediatric market exclusivity in the United States. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, adds six months to existing exclusivity periods and patent terms. This six-month exclusivity, which runs

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from the end of other exclusivity protection or patent term, may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric study in accordance with an FDA-issued “Written Request” for such a study.

The BPCIA is complex and continues to be interpreted and implemented by the FDA. In addition, recent government proposals have sought to reduce the 12-year reference product exclusivity period. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. As a result, the ultimate impact, implementation, and impact of the BPCIA is subject to significant uncertainty.

Hatch-Waxman Amendments and Exclusivity

Section 505 of the FDCA describes three types of marketing applications that may be submitted to the FDA to request marketing authorization for a new drug. A Section 505(b)(1) NDA is an application that contains full reports of investigations of safety and efficacy. A 505(b)(2) NDA is an application that contains full reports of investigations of safety and efficacy but where at least some of the information required for approval comes from investigations that were not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference or use from the person by or for whom the investigations were conducted. This regulatory pathway enables the applicant to rely, in part, on the FDA’s prior findings of safety and efficacy for an existing product, or published literature, in support of its application. Section 505(j) establishes an abbreviated approval process for a generic version of approved drug products through the submission of an Abbreviated New Drug Application, or ANDA. An ANDA provides for marketing of a generic drug product that has the same active ingredients, dosage form, strength, route of administration, labeling, performance characteristics and intended use, among other things, to a previously approved product. ANDAs are termed “abbreviated” because they are generally not required to include preclinical (animal) and clinical (human) data to establish safety and efficacy. Instead, generic applicants must scientifically demonstrate that their product is bioequivalent to, or performs in the same manner as, the innovator drug through in vitro, in vivo or other testing. The generic version must deliver the same amount of active ingredients into a subject’s bloodstream in the same amount of time as the innovator drug and can often be substituted by pharmacists under prescriptions written for the reference listed drug. In seeking approval for a drug through an NDA, applicants are required to list with the FDA each patent with claims that cover the applicant’s drug or a method of using the drug. Upon approval of a drug, each of the patents listed in the application for the drug is then published in the FDA’s Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, commonly known as the Orange Book. Drugs listed in the Orange Book can, in turn, be cited by potential competitors in support of approval of an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA.

Upon submission of an ANDA or a 505(b)(2) NDA, an applicant must certify to the FDA that (1) no patent information on the drug product that is the subject of the application has been submitted to the FDA; (2) such patent has expired; (3) the date on which such patent expires; or (4) such patent is invalid or will not be infringed upon by the manufacture, use or sale of the drug product for which the application is submitted. Generally, the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA cannot be approved until all listed patents have expired, except where the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA applicant challenges a listed patent through the last type of certification, also known as a paragraph IV certification. If the applicant does not challenge the listed patents, or indicates that it is not seeking approval of a patented method of use, the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA application will not be approved until all of the listed patents claiming the referenced product have expired.

If the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA applicant has provided a Paragraph IV certification to the FDA, the applicant must send notice of the Paragraph IV certification to the NDA and patent holders once the application has been accepted for filing by the FDA. The NDA and patent holders may then initiate a patent infringement lawsuit in response to the notice of the paragraph IV certification. If the paragraph IV certification is challenged by an NDA holder or the patent owner(s) asserts a patent challenge to the paragraph IV certification, the FDA may not approve that application until the earlier of 30 months from the receipt of the notice of the paragraph IV certification, the expiration of the patent, when the infringement case concerning each such patent was favorably decided in the applicant’s favor or settled, or such shorter or longer period as may be ordered by a court. This prohibition is generally referred to as the 30-month stay. In instances where an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA applicant files a paragraph IV certification, the NDA holder or patent owner(s) regularly take action to trigger the 30-month stay, recognizing that the related patent litigation may take many months or years to resolve.

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The FDA also cannot approve an ANDA or 505(b)(2) application until all applicable non-patent exclusivities listed in the Orange Book for the branded reference drug have expired. For example, a pharmaceutical manufacturer may obtain five years of non-patent exclusivity upon NDA approval of a new chemical entity, or NCE, which is a drug containing an active moiety that has not been approved by FDA in any other NDA. An “active moiety” is defined as the molecule responsible for the drug substance’s physiological or pharmacologic action. During that five-year exclusivity period, the FDA cannot accept for filing (and therefore cannot approve) any ANDA seeking approval of a generic version of that drug or any 505(b)(2) NDA that relies on the FDA’s approval of the drug, provided that that the FDA may accept an ANDA four years into the NCE exclusivity period if the ANDA applicant also files a Paragraph IV certification.

A drug, including one approved under Section 505(b)(2), may obtain a three-year period of exclusivity for a particular condition of approval, or change to a marketed product, such as a new formulation for a previously approved product, if one or more new clinical studies (other than bioavailability or bioequivalence studies) was essential to the approval of the application and was conducted/sponsored by the applicant. Should this occur, the FDA would be precluded from approving any ANDA or 505(b)(2) application for the protected modification until after that three-year exclusivity period has run. However, unlike NCE exclusivity, the FDA can accept an application and begin the review process during the exclusivity period.

Other Healthcare Laws and Compliance Requirements

Pharmaceutical companies are subject to additional healthcare regulation and enforcement by the federal government and by authorities in the states and foreign jurisdictions in which they conduct their business. Such laws include, without limitation, state and federal anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, and physician sunshine laws and regulations. If their operations are found to be in violation of any of such laws or any other governmental regulations that apply, they may be subject to penalties, including, without limitation, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, the curtailment or restructuring of operations, exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs and individual imprisonment.

Coverage and Reimbursement

Sales of any product depend, in part, on the extent to which such product will be covered by third-party payors, such as federal, state and foreign government healthcare programs, commercial insurance and managed healthcare organizations and the level of reimbursement for such product by third-party payors. Decisions regarding the extent of coverage and amount of reimbursement to be provided are made on a plan-by-plan basis. These third-party payors are increasingly reducing reimbursements for medical products, drugs and services. For products administered under the supervision of a physician, obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement may be particularly difficult because of the higher prices often associated with such drugs. In addition, the U.S. government, state legislatures and foreign governments have continued implementing cost-containment programs, including price controls, restrictions on coverage and reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products. Adoption of price controls and cost-containment measures, and adoption of more restrictive policies in jurisdictions with existing controls and measures, could further limit sales of any product. Decreases in third-party reimbursement for any product or a decision by a third-party payor not to cover a product could reduce physician usage and patient demand for the product and also have a material adverse effect on sales.

Healthcare Reform

In March 2010, former President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers in the United States, and significantly affected the pharmaceutical industry. The Affordable Care Act contains a number of provisions, including those governing enrollment in federal healthcare programs, reimbursement adjustments and fraud and abuse changes. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act increases the minimum level of Medicaid rebates payable by manufacturers of brand name drugs from 15.1% to 23.1%; requires collection of rebates for drugs paid by Medicaid managed care organizations; requires manufacturers to participate in a coverage gap discount program, under which they must agree to offer 70 percent point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during

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their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D; and imposes a non-deductible annual fee on pharmaceutical manufacturers or importers who sell “branded prescription drugs” to specified federal government programs.

Since its enactment, there have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act, and we expect there will be additional challenges and other efforts to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act in the future. Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, including aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year and reduced payments to several types of Medicare providers. Moreover, there has recently been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed bills designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. Individual states in the United States have also become increasingly active in implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.

Privacy and Security Laws

Numerous state, federal and foreign laws, including consumer protection laws and regulations, govern the collection, dissemination, use, access to, confidentiality and security of personal information, including health-related information. In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including data breach notification laws, health information privacy and security laws, including the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, and federal and state consumer protection laws and regulations (e.g., Section 5 of the FTC Act), that govern the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of health-related and other personal information could apply to our operations or the operations of our partners. In addition, certain state and non-U.S. laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, the California Privacy Rights Act, or the CPRA, and the General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, govern the privacy and security of personal data, including health-related data in certain circumstances, some of which are more stringent than HIPAA and many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts. Failure to comply with these laws, where applicable, can result in the imposition of significant civil and/or criminal penalties and private litigation.  Privacy and security laws, regulations, and other obligations are constantly evolving, may conflict with each other to complicate compliance efforts, and can result in investigations, proceedings, or actions that lead to significant civil and/or criminal penalties and restrictions on data processing.

Employees and Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2021, we had 65 employees, all of whom were full-time. Approximately 36% of our employees hold advanced degrees. On February 2, 2022, we implemented a corporate restructuring to align our resources to focus on its UBX1325 program while further extending operating capital. The restructuring resulted in an elimination of approximately half of our workforce, reducing staff to 34 full-time employees by the middle of the year.

The majority of our employees work in our corporate headquarters. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or a collective bargaining agreement and we consider our relationship with our employees to be good.

Our human capital resources objectives are, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and additional employees. As such, we expend considerable time, attention, and financial resources on these activities. Our corporate culture, which is underpinned by our company values, is the overarching framework we use to make decisions related to people practices, including total compensation, short and long-term incentives, health and wellness, and employee engagement.

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Facilities

Our corporate headquarters are located in South San Francisco, California, where we currently lease approximately 62,000 square feet of office and laboratory space pursuant to a lease dated February 28, 2019, of which approximately 23,000 square feet was subleased to Freenome Holdings, Inc. as of June 2021 through August 31, 2024. The majority of our employees work at our corporate headquarters.

Legal Proceedings

We are not currently involved in any litigation or legal proceedings that, in management’s opinion, are likely to have any material adverse effect on our company. While we know of no imminent legal action in which we are likely to be involved, we may in the future become engaged in litigation or other legal proceedings. Regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact due to defense fees, settlement costs, demands on management attention, and other concerns.

Financial Information About Segments

We view our operations and manage our business as one reportable segment. See Note 1 in the Notes to Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

About UNITY

We were incorporated in the State of Delaware on March 30, 2009. Our registered trademarks include UNITY BIOTECHNOLOGY^®. Other service marks, trademarks and trade names referred to in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Available Information

We are subject to the information requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and we therefore file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, relating to our business, financial statements and other matters. The SEC maintains an Internet site, www.sec.gov, that contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers such as UNITY.

For more information about UNITY, including free access to our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports, visit our website, www.unitybiotechnology.com. The information found on or accessible through our website is not incorporated into, and does not form a part of, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking information based on our current expectations. Because our business is subject to many risks and our actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of us, this section includes a discussion of important factors that could affect our business, operating results, financial condition and the trading price of our common stock. Many of the following risks and uncertainties have been and may continue to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and any worsening of the global business and economic environment as a result. This discussion should be read in conjunction with the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and the notes accompanying those financial statements and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, prospects and stock price. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business.

Risk Factor Summary

Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below under the heading “Risk Factors” and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, before making investment decisions regarding our common stock.

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Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Condition, and Capital Requirements

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history and no products approved for commercial sale. We have incurred significant losses since our inception, and we anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, which, together with our limited operating history, make it difficult to assess our future viability.

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We have not yet sought approval for commercial sale of any products and therefore have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from contracts with customers and have incurred losses in each year since our inception in March 2009. We have only a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. In addition, we have limited experience and have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the biopharmaceutical industry.

We have had significant operating losses since our inception. Our net loss for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was approximately $60.7 million and $93.8 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $400.0 million. Substantially all of our losses have resulted from expenses incurred in connection with our research and development programs and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase as we continue to develop our drug candidates, conduct clinical studies and pursue research and development activities. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods. Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.

Our financial condition raises substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our financial statements have been prepared assuming that we will continue to operate as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. Based on our current operating plans, we expect our existing capital resources will fund our planned operating expenses into the first quarter of 2023 which is expected to fund key clinical data readouts for UBX1325, but less than 12 months from the date of this Annual Report. We expect to continue to incur net operating losses for at least the next several years as we continue our research and development efforts, advance our drug candidates through preclinical and clinical development, seek regulatory approval, prepare for and, if approved, proceed to commercialization. We do not expect to generate revenue from any drug candidates that we develop until we obtain regulatory approval for one or more of such drug candidates and commercialize our products or enter into collaborative agreements with third parties.

These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Additionally, our independent registered public accounting firm has included in its audit opinion for the year ended December 31,

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2021 an explanatory paragraph that there is substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern. There is no assurance that funding will be available to us, will be obtained on terms favorable to us or will provide us with sufficient funds to meet our objectives. The reaction of investors to the inclusion of a going concern statement by our auditors and our potential inability to continue as a going concern may materially adversely affect our share price and our ability to raise new capital or enter into partnerships. If we become unable to continue as a going concern, we may have to liquidate our assets and the values we receive for our assets in liquidation or dissolution could be significantly lower than the values reflected in our financial statements.

We will require substantial additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development, other operations or commercialization efforts.

Since our inception, we have invested a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in research and development activities. Preclinical studies and clinical studies for our drug candidates and additional research and development activities to discover and develop new drug candidates will require substantial funds to complete. As of December 31, 2021, we had capital resources consisting of cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $90.1 million. We believe that we will continue to expend substantial resources for the foreseeable future in connection with our programs, including the clinical development of UBX1325, and the development of any other drug candidates we may choose to pursue. These expenditures will include costs associated with conducting preclinical studies and clinical studies, obtaining regulatory approvals, and manufacturing and supply, as well as marketing and selling any products approved for sale. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise. Because the outcome of any preclinical study or clinical study is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of our current drug candidates or any future drug candidates.

In February 2022, we announced a restructuring to align resources to focus on our ongoing clinical programs and deliver on key development milestones. These actions to prioritize our ophthalmology programs and implement cost saving measures were designed to enable us to achieve multiple key clinical data readouts for UBX1325 as well as support the Tie2 and Tie2/VEGF bispecific program through advanced candidate nomination, with all other pipeline programs paused to focus resources on these advanced programs.

Based on our current operating plans, we expect our existing capital resources will fund our planned operating expenses into the first quarter of 2023 which is expected to fund key clinical data readouts for UBX1325, but less than 12 months from the date of this Annual Report. Accordingly, our financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the continuity of operations, realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the ordinary course of business. We will need substantial additional capital to operate our business and continue our development activities. Our operating plans may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity or debt financings or other sources, such as strategic collaborations. Such financing may result in dilution to stockholders, the imposition of burdensome debt covenants and repayment obligations, or other restrictions that may affect our business. Adequate funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all, particularly in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic uncertainty and potential for local and/or global economic recession. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. If sufficient funds on acceptable terms are not available when needed, we could be required to significantly reduce our operating expenses and delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of our development programs.

Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including:

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Additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to:

We also could choose or be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborators or others that may require us to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or drug candidates that we would otherwise pursue on our own. We do not expect to realize revenue from sales of products or royalties from licensed products in the foreseeable future, if at all, and unless and until our drug candidates are clinically tested, approved for commercialization and successfully marketed. To date, we have primarily financed our operations through the sale of equity securities. We will be required to seek additional funding in the future and currently intend to do so through collaborations, public or private equity offerings or debt financings, credit or loan facilities or a combination of one or more of these funding sources. Our ability to raise additional funds will depend on financial, economic and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. For example, financial markets have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic uncertainty, and such impact may be exacerbated as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves or by other unforeseen events or public health emergencies. Additional funds may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders will suffer dilution and the terms of any financing may adversely affect the rights of our stockholders. In addition, as a condition to providing additional funds to us, future investors may demand, and may be granted,

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rights superior to those of existing stockholders. Debt financing, if available, is likely to involve restrictive covenants limiting our flexibility in conducting future business activities, and, in the event of insolvency, debt holders would be repaid before holders of our equity securities received any distribution of our corporate assets.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly, making it difficult for us to predict our future operating results. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including:

The cumulative effects of these factors could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Investors should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance.

This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to the market, or if the forecasts we provide to the market are below the expectations of analysts or investors, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Such a stock price decline could occur even when we have met any previously publicly stated revenue or earnings guidance we may provide.

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Risks Related to Our Business and Product Development

Our core therapeutic approach to slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging is based on our understanding of cellular senescence. Utilizing senolytic molecules to treat diseases of aging is a novel therapeutic approach, which exposes us to unforeseen risks and makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of drug development and potential for regulatory approval.

Our foundational science and lead drug candidate are based on senescence biology. We believe that we can develop drug candidates capable of eliminating or modulating accumulated senescent cells, when administered locally. In our development efforts we intend to explore senolytic medicines that use multiple modalities. However, our approach to treating diseases of aging is novel and the scientific research that forms the basis of our efforts to develop senolytic medicines is ongoing. We have only recently begun testing our senolytic molecules in humans and the majority of our current data supporting our hypothesis regarding senescence biology is limited to pre-clinical animal models and in vitro cell lines, the results of which may not translate into humans. We currently have no conclusive evidence in humans, that the accumulation or modulation of senescent cells is the underlying cause of tissue damage and dysfunction associated with many diseases of aging. For example, we announced the 12-week results from our Phase 2 study of UBX0101 in patients with moderate-to-severe painful OA of the knee. There was no statistically significant difference between any arm of UBX0101 and placebo at the 12-week primary endpoint for change from baseline in WOMAC-A, an established measurement of pain in OA. Given these results, we are not progressing UBX0101 into pivotal studies and have narrowed our near-term focus to our ongoing ophthalmologic and neurologic disease programs.

Our current program, UBX1325, is a Bcl-xL inhibitor, and is intended to target senescent cells in the eye. While cellular senescence is a naturally occurring biological process, the administration of senolytic medicines to eliminate or cause the elimination or modulation of accumulated senescent cells in humans has not been widely tested and may potentially harm healthy tissue or result in unforeseen safety events, or fail to achieve the intended therapeutic purpose entirely. We may also ultimately discover that our senolytic molecules do not possess certain properties required for therapeutic effectiveness, or that even if found to be effective in one type of tissue, that such molecules will be effective in other tissues. In addition, given the novel nature of this therapeutic approach, designing preclinical and clinical studies to demonstrate the effect of senolytic medicines is complex and exposes us to unforeseen risks. In addition, the scientific evidence to support the feasibility of developing systemic senolytic medicines is based primarily on preclinical data and not human clinical trials. We may spend substantial funds attempting to develop these drug candidates and never succeed in doing so.

No regulatory authority has granted approval for a senolytic medicine. As such, we believe the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, has limited experience with senescence, which may increase the complexity, uncertainty and length of the clinical development and regulatory approval process for our drug candidates. We may never receive approval to market and commercialize any drug candidate. Even if we obtain regulatory approval, the approval may be for targets, disease indications or patient populations that are not as broad as we intended or desired or may require labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings. We may be required to perform additional or unanticipated clinical studies to obtain approval or be subject to post-marketing testing requirements to maintain marketing authorization. If our other senolytic molecules prove to be ineffective, unsafe or commercially unviable, our entire senolytic platform and pipeline would have little, if any, value, which would have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is currently dependent on the successful development of UBX1325 which is in early stages of clinical development.

We have no products approved for sale and all of our drug candidates are in early stages of development. We have one product candidate, UBX1325, in clinical development and we have ceased development of UBX0101 following our Phase 2 trial and are focused on advancing our ophthalmology program. In particular, in October 2020, we initiated a Phase 1 clinical study of UBX1325 in patients with DME or nAMD for whom anti-VEGF therapy was no longer considered beneficial, and in July, October, and November 2021, we announced positive data up to 24 weeks from this Phase 1 study. We initiated a Phase 2a proof-of-concept clinical study of UBX1325 in DME in May 2021 and dosed the first patient in June 2021 and expect 12-week safety and efficacy data by mid-2022. In March 2022 we also enrolled our first patient in our Phase 2 proof-of-concept study in nAMD, and we expect to share 16-week

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data in the fourth quarter of 2022. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the timing of study initiations, enrollment, visit adherence, and completions is hard to assess due the continually evolving nature of the situation and it is possible that the study enrollment, visit adherence, and completion may be delayed.

In February 2022, we announced a restructuring to align resources to focus on our ongoing clinical programs and deliver on key development milestones. These actions to prioritize our ophthalmology programs and implement cost saving measures were designed to enable us to achieve multiple key clinical data readouts for UBX1325. As a result, our business is currently dependent on the successful development of UBX1325. The success of our business, including our ability to finance our company and generate any revenue in the future, will primarily depend on the successful development of UBX1325. If UBX1325 does not demonstrate clinical benefit or we encounter safety issues with UBX1325, we may be required to significantly delay or abandon its development. In the event UBX1325 is not successful in clinical development, we have limited resources and capital with which to develop additional drug candidates and we may be forced to sell or liquidate our business.

The clinical and commercial success of UBX1325 and any other future drug candidates will depend on a number of factors, including the following:

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These factors, many of which are beyond our control, could cause us to experience significant delays or be unable to obtain regulatory approvals or commercialize our drug candidates. In addition, disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may increase the likelihood that we encounter such difficulties or delays in developing, obtaining regulatory approvals for or commercializing our product candidates. Even if regulatory approvals are obtained, we may never achieve success in commercializing any of our drug candidates. Accordingly, we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to generate sufficient revenue through the sale of our drug candidates or any future drug candidates to continue our business or achieve profitability.

Other than UBX1325, all of our other programs are preclinical and face significant development risk.  

Other than UBX1325, all of our other programs are in preclinical and early research stage. In addition, we have limited resources for which to develop any products other than UBX1325. Given the early stage nature of these programs, each of the drug candidates and programs faces substantial development risk. UBX0101 and UBX1325 are the only drug candidates that we have administered to humans, and as such, we face significant translational risk with our earlier stage drug candidates. We may also be required by the FDA or similar foreign regulatory agencies to conduct additional preclinical studies beyond those planned to support the commencement of additional clinical trials. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we are able to bring any of our preclinical product candidates or development programs into the clinic or otherwise successfully develop them.

Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results.

Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure or delay can occur at any time during the clinical study process. Success in preclinical studies and early clinical studies does not ensure that later clinical studies will be successful. A number of companies in the biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries have suffered significant setbacks in clinical studies, even after positive results in earlier preclinical studies or clinical studies. These setbacks have been caused by, among other things, preclinical findings made while clinical studies were underway and safety or efficacy observations made in clinical studies, including previously unreported adverse events. The results of our preclinical animal studies or studies in ex vivo human tissues may not be predictive of the results of outcomes in human clinical studies. For example, our senolytic molecules may demonstrate different chemical and pharmacological properties in patients than they do in laboratory studies or may interact with human biological systems in unforeseen or harmful ways.

Drug candidates in later stages of clinical studies may fail to show the desired pharmacological properties or safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical studies. Notwithstanding any promising results in earlier studies, we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. Even if we are

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able to initiate and complete clinical studies, the results may not be sufficient to obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates.

We cannot be certain that studies or trials for our drug candidates will begin on time, not require redesign, enroll an adequate number of subjects on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. The COVID-19 pandemic could cause or exacerbate these factors. For example, for our Phase 1 and Phase 2a or Phase 2 studies for UBX1325, clinical sites may be unable to recruit and retain investigators and study staff, screen and enroll patients, patients may be unable to adhere to the study visit schedule, and the completion of the study could be delayed. Clinical studies can be prolonged, delayed or terminated for a variety of reasons, including:

We may experience numerous adverse or unforeseen events during, or as a result of, preclinical studies and clinical studies that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our drug candidates, including:

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If we are required to conduct additional clinical studies or other testing of our drug candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical studies of our drug candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only moderately positive, or if there are safety concerns, we may:

We could also encounter delays if a clinical study is suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, for such trial or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Such authorities may suspend or terminate a clinical study due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical study in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical study operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical study.

Further, conducting clinical studies in foreign countries, as we may do for certain of our drug candidates, presents additional risks that may delay completion of our clinical studies. These risks include the failure of enrolled patients in foreign countries to adhere to clinical protocol as a result of differences in healthcare services or cultural customs, managing additional administrative burdens associated with foreign regulatory schemes, as well as political and economic risks relevant to such foreign countries, including those caused by unforeseen events such as pandemics and public health emergencies similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Principal investigators for our clinical studies may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and may receive cash or equity compensation in connection with such services. If these relationships and any related compensation result in perceived or actual conflicts of interest, or a regulatory authority concludes that the financial relationship may have affected the interpretation of the trial, the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical study site may be questioned and the utility of the clinical study itself may be jeopardized, which could result in the delay or rejection of the marketing application we submit. Any such delay or rejection could prevent or delay us from commercializing our current or future drug candidates.

If we experience termination or delays in the completion of any preclinical study or clinical study of our drug candidates, the commercial prospects of our drug candidates may be harmed, and our ability to generate revenues from any of these drug candidates will be delayed or unrealized. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical studies may increase our costs, slow down our drug candidate development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical studies may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our drug candidates. If one or more of our drug candidates or our senescence technology generally prove to be ineffective, unsafe or commercially unviable, our platform and pipeline would have significantly diminished value, which would have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The COVID-19 pandemic could adversely impact our business, including our clinical trials, and financial condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic and government measures taken in response have had a significant impact, both direct and indirect, on businesses and commerce, as worker shortages have occurred, supply chains have been disrupted, facilities and production have been suspended, and demand for certain goods and services, such as medical services and supplies, has spiked, while demand for other goods and services, such as travel, has fallen. In response to the spread of COVID-19, as of mid-March 2020, we transitioned to a reduced onsite staffing model and implemented a remote work plan for all of our employees other than those providing essential services, such as our laboratory staff. In parallel with applicable law and regulations, in June 2021 and again in February 2022 we began transitioning our staff back to the office but are continuing to monitor and adjust as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves. For onsite employees, we have implemented heightened safety measures designed to comply with applicable federal, state and local guidelines. We may be required to take additional actions that could impact our operations if required by applicable laws or regulations or if we determine them to be in the best interests of our employees.

For the Phase 1 safety and tolerability clinical study and the Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical studies for UBX1325, we adapted the clinical study protocol and standard operating procedures to enable a number of adaptations such as: remote data collection for clinical sites if needed; the option for remote data source verification procedures to limit on-site monitoring; transportation options for patients to utilize for study visit adherence; flexible visit windows to increase study visit adherence; and geographic distribution of sites to mitigate variation in local restrictions.

These actions enable the collection of all major endpoints if patients adhere with the study visit schedule. Assessments that require an on-site visit may be missed for some or all patients including laboratory evaluations, clinical examinations, or imaging.

Although one of the manufacturers in our supply chain for UBX0101 experienced a two-week shutdown in April 2020 due to a COVID-19 related incident and there have been some delays in shipments due to a reduction in overall flights, neither of these factors impacted our supply of UBX0101 prior to our decision to shut down further clinical advancement of that program. There have been no other disruptions in our supply chain of drug manufacturers necessary to conduct our ongoing clinical trials, including our Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies in ophthalmology disease.

Several of the contract research organizations, or CROs, that provide preclinical services to us are based in China and India and experienced temporary shutdowns in February and March due to government mandates. In each case we were able to reassign the balance of activities to other CROs and the shutdowns did not impact our preclinical timelines. CROs based in the United States that provide preclinical services are experiencing heavy demand, which

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may impact their ability to start new studies and could lead to delays in the commencement of our preclinical studies. Several of our U.S.-based academic research partners have also experienced shutdowns which has slowed progress on several early-stage projects, none of which impacted our preclinical timelines.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we may experience disruptions that could severely impact our business and clinical trials, including:

The global pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to evolve. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our business, including our clinical trials, and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, such as the ultimate geographic spread of the disease, the duration of the pandemic, the adoption and efficacy of vaccines, travel restrictions and social distancing in the United States and other countries, business closures or business disruptions and the effectiveness of actions taken in the United States and other countries to contain and treat the disease.

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If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical studies, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

The timely completion of clinical studies in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the study until its conclusion. We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical studies for a variety of reasons. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, some of which could be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including:

In addition, our clinical studies may compete with other clinical studies for drug candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our drug candidates. This competition will reduce the number and types of patients available to us, because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we may conduct some of our clinical studies at the same clinical study sites that some of our competitors use, which will reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical studies in such clinical study site.

Further, the administration of senolytic medicines designed to eliminate or cause the elimination of senescent cells and thereby modulate their associated SASP may result in unforeseen events, including by harming healthy tissues. As a result, it is possible that safety concerns could negatively affect patient enrollment among the patient populations that we intend to treat, including among those in indications with a low risk of mortality. Delays in patient enrollment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of the planned clinical studies, which could prevent completion of these trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our drug candidates.

Interim, “top-line” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose top-line or preliminary data from our clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular study or trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the top-line or preliminary results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Top-line or preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the top-line or preliminary data we previously published. As a result, top-line and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available.

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From time to time, we may also disclose interim data from our preclinical studies and clinical trials. Interim data from clinical trials that we may conduct are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Adverse differences between interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects. Further, disclosure of interim data by us or by our competitors could result in volatility in the price of our common stock.

Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product, our ability to make certain claims about our products, and our company in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure.

If the interim, top-line or preliminary data that we report differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates may be harmed, which could harm our business, operating results, prospects or financial condition.

Our drug candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.

Undesirable side effects caused by our drug candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical studies and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Other than our clinical studies of UBX0101 and UBX1325, senolytic medicines designed to eliminate or cause the elimination of senescent cells have never been tested in humans. As a result, although UBX1325 has been well tolerated in our Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies with no adversities that would prevent advancement into later stage clinical trials as of March 2022, UBX1325 could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects, and it is possible that patients enrolled in such clinical studies could respond in unexpected ways. For instance, in preclinical in vivo animal and ex vivo human tissue studies, our senolytic molecules have exhibited clearance of senescent cells; however, the elimination of accumulated senescent cells may result in unforeseen events, including harming healthy cells or tissues. In addition, the entry by cells into a senescent state is a natural biological process that we believe may have protective effects, such as halting the proliferation of damaged cells. The treatment of tissues with senolytic molecules could interfere with such protective processes.

If unacceptable side effects arise in the development of our drug candidates, we, the FDA, the IRBs at the institutions in which our studies are conducted, or the DSMB could suspend or terminate our clinical studies, or the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease clinical studies or deny approval of our drug candidates for any or all targeted indications. Treatment-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete any of our clinical studies or result in potential product liability claims. In addition, these side effects may not be appropriately recognized or managed by the treating medical staff. We expect to have to train medical personnel using our drug candidates to understand the side effect profiles for our clinical studies and upon any commercialization of any of our drug candidates. Inadequate training in recognizing or managing the potential side effects of our drug candidates could result in patient injury or death. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

In addition, even if we successfully advance any of our drug candidates into and through clinical studies, such trials will likely only include a limited number of subjects and limited duration of exposure to our drug candidates. As a result, we cannot be assured that adverse effects of our drug candidates will not be uncovered when a significantly larger number of patients are exposed to the drug candidate. Further, clinical studies may not be sufficient to determine the effect and safety consequences of taking our drug candidates over a multi-year period. There can be no assurance that it will demonstrate a similarly favorable safety profile in subsequent clinical trials.

If any of our drug candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

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Any of the foregoing events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular drug candidate, if approved, and result in the loss of significant revenues to us, which would materially and adversely affect our results of operations and business. In addition, if one or more of our drug candidates or our senescence approach generally prove to be unsafe, our entire platform and pipeline could be affected, which would have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be successful in our efforts to continue to create a pipeline of drug candidates or to develop commercially successful products. If we fail to successfully identify and develop additional drug candidates, our commercial opportunity may be limited.

We are committed to developing senolytic medicines that slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging, and we are currently advancing multiple senolytic molecules to address a variety of diseases of aging, including ophthalmologic disorders. As senolytic medicines are not limited to intervention by a single mode of action or molecular target, we believe that we can modulate a number of biologic pathways in order to trigger the beneficial elimination of senescent cells. However, our core therapeutic approach is based on our belief that senescent cells drive diseases of aging, and that hypothesis has not yet been proven. In addition, we do not know if we will be able to develop medicines that selectively eliminate senescent cells or whether the elimination of such senescent cells will mitigate the effects of or effectively treat any diseases.

In addition, identifying, developing, obtaining regulatory approval and commercializing drug candidates for the treatment of diseases of aging will require substantial additional funding and is prone to the risks of failure inherent in drug development. Research programs to identify drug candidates also require substantial technical, financial and human resources, regardless of whether or not any drug candidates are ultimately identified, and even if our preclinical research programs initially show promise in identifying potential drug candidates, they may fail to yield drug candidates for clinical development.

While we have a number of ongoing drug discovery programs targeting senescent cells, we do not know whether these will be successful, or whether we will be able to identify novel senolytic mechanisms to continue to build our pipeline. We also cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to successfully identify or acquire additional drug candidates, advance any of these additional drug candidates through the development process, successfully commercialize any such additional drug candidates, if approved, or assemble sufficient resources to identify, acquire, develop or, if approved, commercialize additional drug candidates. If we are unable to successfully identify, acquire, develop and commercialize additional drug candidates, our commercial opportunities may be limited.

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We may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates under applicable regulatory requirements. The denial or delay of any such approval would delay commercialization of our drug candidates and adversely impact our potential to generate revenue, our business and our results of operations.

To gain approval to market our drug candidates, we must provide the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities with clinical data that adequately demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the drug candidate for the intended indication applied for in the applicable regulatory filing. For our senolytic medicines, we must also demonstrate that eliminating or causing the elimination of senescent cells and modulating relevant associated SASP factors will lead to the improvement of well-defined and measurable endpoints.

We have not previously submitted a new drug application, or NDA, or biologics license application, or BLA, to the FDA, or similar approval filings to comparable foreign regulatory authorities. An NDA, BLA or other relevant regulatory filing must include extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to establish that the drug candidate is safe and effective, or that a biological drug candidate is safe, pure and potent for each desired indication. The NDA, BLA or other relevant regulatory submission must also include significant information regarding the chemistry, manufacturing and controls for the product.

The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, sale, marketing, and distribution of drug and biologic products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and other countries, and such regulations differ from country to country. We are not permitted to market our drug candidates in the United States or in any foreign countries until they receive the requisite approval from the applicable regulatory authorities of such jurisdictions.

The FDA or any foreign regulatory bodies can delay, limit or deny approval of our drug candidates for many reasons, including:

Of the large number of biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical products in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or other regulatory approval processes and are commercialized.

Even if we eventually complete clinical testing and receive approval from the FDA or applicable foreign agencies for any of our drug candidates, the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory agency may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly additional clinical studies which may be required after approval. The FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory agency also may approve our current drug candidates for limited indications or narrower patient populations than we originally requested, and the FDA, or applicable foreign regulatory agency,

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may not approve our drug candidates with the labeling that we believe is necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of such drug candidates.

Any delay in obtaining, or inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approval would delay or prevent commercialization of our drug candidates and would materially adversely impact our business and prospects.

Even if our current drug candidates or any future drug candidates obtain regulatory approval, they may fail to achieve the broad degree of physician and patient adoption and use necessary for commercial success.

Even if one or more of our drug candidates receive FDA or other regulatory approvals, the commercial success of any of our current or future drug candidates will depend significantly on the broad adoption and use of the resulting product by physicians and patients for approved indications. Our drug candidates may not be commercially successful for a variety of reasons, including: competitive factors, pricing or physician preference, reimbursement by insurers, the degree and rate of physician and patient adoption of our current or future drug candidates. If approved, the commercial success of our drug candidates will depend on a number of factors, including:

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We cannot assure you that our current or future drug candidates, if approved, will achieve broad market acceptance among physicians and patients. Any failure by our drug candidates that obtain regulatory approval to achieve market acceptance or commercial success would adversely affect our results of operations.

We rely on third-party suppliers to manufacture supplies of our drug candidates and we intend to continue to rely on third parties to produce such preclinical and clinical supplies as well as commercial supplies of any approved product. The loss of these suppliers, or their failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements or to provide us with sufficient quantities at acceptable quality levels or prices, or at all, would materially and adversely affect our business.

We do not have the infrastructure or capability internally to manufacture supplies of our drug candidates or the materials necessary to produce our drug candidates for use in the conduct of our clinical studies, and we lack the internal resources and the capability to manufacture any of our drug candidates on a clinical or commercial scale. The facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our drug candidates are subject to various regulatory requirements and may be subject to the inspection of the FDA or other regulatory authorities. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with the regulatory requirements, known as cGMPs. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions, we may not be able to rely on their manufacturing facilities for the manufacture or our drug candidates. In addition, we have limited control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority finds these facilities inadequate for the manufacture of our drug candidates or if such facilities are subject to enforcement action in the future or are otherwise inadequate, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our drug candidates.

We currently intend to supply all of our drug candidates in all territories for our planned clinical development programs. We currently rely on third parties at key stages in our supply chain. For instance, the supply chains for our current drug candidates involve several manufacturers that specialize in specific operations of the manufacturing process, specifically, raw materials manufacturing, drug substance manufacturing and drug product manufacturing. As a result, the supply chain for the manufacturing of our drug candidates is complicated and we expect the logistical challenges associated with our supply chain to grow more complex as our drug candidates progress through the clinical trial process. Some of these third parties may also be adversely impacted by COVID-19 or other unforeseen events and public health emergencies. For example, one of the manufacturers in our supply chain for UBX0101 experienced a two-week shutdown in April 2020 due to a COVID-19 related incident. While such incident did not impact our supply of UBX0101 for clinical studies being conducted in April 2020, there can be no assurance that our supply chain for any of our candidates and clinical trials will not be disrupted in the future due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We do not have any control over the process or timing of the acquisition or manufacture of materials by our manufacturers. Further, we have not yet engaged any manufacturers for the commercial supply of our current drug candidates. Although we intend to enter into such agreements prior to commercial launch of any of our drug candidates, we may be unable to enter into any such agreement or do so on commercially reasonable terms, which could have a material adverse impact upon our business. We generally do not begin a preclinical study and we do not intend to initiate any clinical studies unless we believe we have access to a sufficient supply of a drug candidate to complete such study or trial. In addition, any significant delay in, or quality control problems with respect to, the supply of a drug candidate, or the raw material components thereof, for an ongoing study or trial could considerably delay completion of our preclinical studies or future clinical studies, product testing and potential regulatory approval of our drug candidates.

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Moreover, if there is a disruption to one or more of our third-party manufacturers’ or suppliers’ relevant operations, or if we are unable to enter into arrangements for the commercial supply of our drug candidates, we will have no other means of producing our current drug candidates until they restore the affected facilities or we or they procure alternative manufacturing facilities or sources of supply. Our ability to progress our preclinical and clinical programs could be materially and adversely impacted if any of the third-party suppliers upon which we rely were to experience a significant business challenge, disruption or failure due to issues such as financial difficulties or bankruptcy, issues relating to other customers such as regulatory or quality compliance issues, or other financial, legal, regulatory or reputational issues.

Additionally, any damage to or destruction of our third-party manufacturers’ or suppliers’ facilities or equipment may significantly impair our ability to manufacture our drug candidates on a timely basis.

In addition, to manufacture our current drug candidates in the quantities that we believe would be required to meet anticipated market demand, our third-party manufacturers would likely need to increase manufacturing capacity and, in some cases, we would need to secure alternative sources of commercial supply, which could involve significant challenges and may require additional regulatory approvals. In addition, the development of commercial-scale manufacturing capabilities may require us and our third-party manufacturers to invest substantial additional funds and hire and retain the technical personnel who have the necessary manufacturing experience. Neither we nor our third-party manufacturers may successfully complete any required increase to existing manufacturing capacity in a timely manner, or at all. If our manufacturers or we are unable to purchase the raw materials necessary for the manufacture of our drug candidates on acceptable terms, at sufficient quality levels, or in adequate quantities, if at all, the commercial launch of our current drug candidates or any future drug candidates would be delayed or there would be a shortage in supply, which would impair our ability to generate revenues from the sale of such drug candidates, if approved.

If we fail to attract and retain key personnel, we may be unable to successfully develop our current drug candidates or any future drug candidates, conduct our clinical studies and commercialize our current or any future drug candidates.

Our success depends in part on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified management and employees. In February 2022 we announced a restructuring to advance corporate strategy and focus on key ophthalmology programs. As a result, additional unplanned loss of personnel, may occur despite our efforts to retain management and employees. Continued disruption caused by the transition or by the loss of ongoing services of any other members of our management or employees could delay or prevent the successful development of our ongoing programs, initiation or completion of our planned clinical studies or the commercialization of our current drug candidates or any future drug candidates. Competition for qualified personnel in the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals field is intense due to the limited number of individuals who possess the skills and experience required by our industry, and we may not be able to adequately address attrition, including unplanned, attrition, and as a result, the timely completion of our clinical trials could be jeopardized.

We depend on third-party suppliers for key raw materials used in our manufacturing processes, and the loss of these third-party suppliers or their inability to supply us with adequate raw materials could harm our business.

We rely on third-party suppliers for the raw materials required for the production of our drug candidates. Our dependence on these third-party suppliers and the challenges we may face in obtaining adequate supplies of raw materials involve several risks, including limited control over pricing, availability, and quality and delivery schedules. As a small company, our negotiation leverage is limited, and we are likely to get lower priority than our competitors who are larger than we are. We cannot be certain that our suppliers will continue to provide us with the quantities of these raw materials that we require or satisfy our anticipated specifications and quality requirements. Any supply interruption in limited or sole sourced raw materials could materially harm our ability to manufacture our drug candidates until a new source of supply, if any, could be identified and qualified. We may be unable to find a sufficient alternative supply channel in a reasonable time or on commercially reasonable terms. Any performance failure on the part of our suppliers could delay the development and potential commercialization of our drug candidates, including limiting supplies necessary for clinical studies and regulatory approvals, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

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We rely on third parties in the conduct of critical portions of our preclinical studies and intend to rely on third parties in the conduct of critical portions of our future clinical studies. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates. Some of these third parties may also be adversely impacted by COVID-19 or other unforeseen events and public health emergencies.

We currently do not have the ability to independently conduct preclinical studies that comply with the regulatory requirements known as good laboratory practice, or GLP, requirements. We also do not currently have the ability to independently conduct any clinical studies. The FDA and regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions require us to comply with regulations and standards, commonly referred to as good clinical practice, or GCP, requirements for conducting, monitoring, recording and reporting the results of clinical studies, in order to ensure that the data and results are scientifically credible and accurate and that the trial subjects are adequately informed of the potential risks of participating in clinical studies. We rely on medical institutions, clinical investigators, contract laboratories and other third parties, such as CROs, to conduct GLP-compliant preclinical studies and GCP-compliant clinical studies on our drug candidates properly and on time. While we have agreements governing their activities, we control only certain aspects of their activities and have limited influence over their actual performance. The third parties with whom we contract for execution of our GLP-compliant preclinical studies and our GCP-compliant clinical studies play a significant role in the conduct of these studies and trials and the subsequent collection and analysis of data. These third parties are not our employees and, except for restrictions imposed by our contracts with such third parties, we have limited ability to control the amount or timing of resources that they devote to our programs. Although we rely on these third parties to conduct our GLP-compliant preclinical studies and GCP-compliant clinical studies, we remain responsible for ensuring that each of our GLP preclinical studies and clinical studies is conducted in accordance with its investigational plan and protocol and applicable laws and regulations, and our reliance on the CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities.

Many of the third parties with whom we contract may also have relationships with other commercial entities, potentially including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical studies or other drug development activities that could harm our competitive position. If the third parties conducting our preclinical studies or our clinical studies do not adequately perform their contractual duties or obligations, experience significant business challenges, disruptions or failures, do not meet expected deadlines, terminate their agreements with us or need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to their failure to adhere to our protocols or to GCPs, or for any other reason, we may need to enter into new arrangements with alternative third parties. This could be difficult, costly or impossible, and our preclinical studies or clinical studies may need to be extended, delayed, terminated or repeated. As a result, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval in a timely fashion, or at all, for the applicable drug candidate, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our drug candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase, and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.

We face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological and scientific change, and our drug candidates, if approved, will face significant competition and our failure to effectively compete may prevent us from achieving significant market penetration. Most of our competitors have significantly greater resources than we do, and we may not be able to successfully compete.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in particular are characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and a strong emphasis on developing proprietary therapeutics. Numerous companies are engaged in the development, patenting, manufacturing and marketing of healthcare products competitive with those that we are developing. We face competition from a number of sources, such as pharmaceutical companies, generic drug companies, biotechnology companies and academic and research institutions, many of which have greater financial resources, marketing capabilities, sales forces, manufacturing capabilities, research and development capabilities, clinical study expertise, intellectual property portfolios, experience in obtaining patents and regulatory approvals for drug candidates and other resources than we do. Some of the companies that offer competing products also have a broad range of other product offerings, large direct sales forces and long-term customer relationships with our target physicians, which could inhibit our market penetration efforts. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in

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recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical study sites and patient registration for clinical studies, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. In addition, certain of our drug candidates, if approved, may compete with other products that treat diseases of aging, including over the counter, or OTC, treatments, for a share of some patients’ discretionary budgets and for physicians’ attention within their clinical practices.

We are aware of other companies seeking to develop treatments to prevent or treat diseases of aging through various biological pathways. Within our lead senolytic program in ophthalmology diseases, our drug candidates would compete against current therapies from a wide range of companies and technologies, including current standard of care treatments such as anti-VEGF antibodies (bevacizumab, ranibizumab, aflibercept, brolucizumab), bispecific antibodies (faricimab), intravitreal steroid (dexamethasone), and pan-retinal photocoagulation by laser. There are also potentially disease-modifying therapeutics being developed by several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Roche/Genentech and Regeneron.

Further, we believe that potential competitors may be able to develop senolytic medicines utilizing well-established molecules and pathways, which could enable the development of competitive drug candidates utilizing the same cellular senescence biological theories.

Certain alternative treatments offered by competitors may be available at lower prices and may offer greater efficacy or better safety profiles. Furthermore, currently approved products could be discovered to have application for treatment of diseases of aging generally, which could give such products significant regulatory and market timing advantages over any of our drug candidates. Our competitors also may obtain FDA, EMA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours and may obtain orphan product exclusivity from the FDA for indications our drug candidates are targeting, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Newly developed systemic or non-systemic treatments that replace existing therapies that currently are only utilized in patients suffering from severe disease may also have lessened side effects or reduced prices compared to current therapies, which make them more attractive for patients suffering from mild to moderate disease. Even if a generic or OTC product is less effective than our drug candidates, it may be more quickly adopted by physicians and patients than our competing drug candidates based upon cost or convenience.

The successful commercialization of our drug candidates will depend in part on the extent to which governmental authorities and health insurers establish adequate coverage, reimbursement levels and pricing policies. Failure to obtain or maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement for our drug candidates, if approved, could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.

The availability and adequacy of coverage and reimbursement by governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, private health insurers and other third-party payors are essential for most patients to be able to afford prescription medications such as our drug candidates, assuming FDA approval. Our ability to achieve acceptable levels of coverage and reimbursement for products by governmental authorities, private health insurers and other organizations will have an effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our drug candidates. Assuming we obtain coverage for our drug candidates by a third-party payor, the resulting reimbursement payment rates may not be adequate or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement in the United States, the European Union or elsewhere will be available for our drug candidates or any product that we may develop, and any reimbursement that may become available may be decreased or eliminated in the future.

Third-party payors increasingly are challenging prices charged for pharmaceutical products and services, and many third-party payors may refuse to provide coverage and reimbursement for particular drugs or biologics when an equivalent generic drug, biosimilar or a less expensive therapy is available. It is possible that a third-party payor may consider our drug candidates as substitutable and only offer to reimburse patients for the cost of the less expensive product. Even if we show improved efficacy or improved convenience of administration with our drug candidates, pricing of existing third-party therapeutics may limit the amount we will be able to charge for our drug candidates. These payors may deny or revoke the reimbursement status of a given product or establish prices for new or existing marketed products at levels that are too low to enable us to realize an appropriate return on our investment in our drug candidates. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may

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not be able to successfully commercialize our drug candidates and may not be able to obtain a satisfactory financial return on our investment in the development of drug candidates.

There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. In the United States, third-party payors, including private and governmental payors, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, play an important role in determining the extent to which new drugs and biologics will be covered. The Medicare and Medicaid programs increasingly are used as models in the United States for how private payors and other governmental payors develop their coverage and reimbursement policies for drugs and biologics. Some third-party payors may require pre-approval of coverage for new or innovative devices or drug therapies before they will reimburse healthcare providers who use such therapies. We cannot predict at this time what third-party payors will decide with respect to the coverage and reimbursement for our drug candidates.

No uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors in the United States. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our drug candidates to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance. Furthermore, rules and regulations regarding reimbursement change frequently, in some cases on short notice, and we believe that changes in these rules and regulations are likely.

Outside the United States, international operations are generally subject to extensive governmental price controls and other market regulations, and we believe the increasing emphasis on cost-containment initiatives in Europe and other countries have and will continue to put pressure on the pricing and usage of our drug candidates. In many countries, the prices of medical products are subject to varying price control mechanisms as part of national health systems. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for medical products but monitor and control company profits.

Additional foreign price controls or other changes in pricing regulation could restrict the amount that we are able to charge for our drug candidates. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States, the reimbursement for our drug candidates may be reduced compared with the United States and may be insufficient to generate commercially reasonable revenue and profits.

Moreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payors in the United States and abroad to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for newly approved products and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our drug candidates. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our drug candidates due to the trend toward managed health care, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and biologics and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products.

We currently have no sales organization. If we are unable to establish sales capabilities on our own or through third parties, we may not be able to market and sell our drug candidates effectively in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, if approved, or generate product revenue.

We currently do not have a marketing or sales organization. In order to commercialize our drug candidates in the United States and foreign jurisdictions, we must build our marketing, sales, distribution, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services, and we may not be successful in doing so. If any of our drug candidates receive regulatory approval, we expect to establish a sales organization with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize each such drug candidate, which will be expensive and time consuming. We have no prior experience in the marketing, sale and distribution of pharmaceutical products and there are significant risks involved in building and managing a sales organization, including our ability to hire, retain, and incentivize qualified individuals, generate sufficient sales leads, provide adequate training to sales and marketing personnel, and effectively manage a geographically dispersed sales and marketing team. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the commercialization of these products. We may choose to

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collaborate with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems. If we are unable to enter into such arrangements on acceptable terms or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our drug candidates. If we are not successful in commercializing our drug candidates or any future drug candidates, either on our own or through arrangements with one or more third parties, we may not be able to generate any future product revenue and we would incur significant additional losses.

If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our current or future drug candidates.

We face an inherent risk of product liability as a result of the clinical testing of our drug candidates and will face an even greater risk if we commercialize any products. For example, we may be sued if any product we develop allegedly causes injury or is found to be otherwise unsuitable during product testing, manufacturing, marketing or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, and a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability, and a breach of warranty. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of our drug candidates.

Even a successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

Our inability to obtain and maintain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost and scope of coverage to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of our current or any future drug candidates we develop. We currently carry product liability insurance covering our clinical studies. Although we maintain such insurance, any claim that may be brought against us could result in a court judgment or settlement in an amount that is not covered, in whole or in part, by our insurance or that is in excess of the limits of our insurance coverage. Our insurance policies also have various exclusions and deductibles, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have no coverage. We will have to pay any amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient funds to pay such amounts. Moreover, in the future, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses. If and when we obtain approval for marketing any of our drug candidates, we intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of such drug candidate; however, we may be unable to obtain this liability insurance on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

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Our existing collaborations as well as additional collaboration arrangements that we may enter into in the future may not be successful, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our drug candidates.

We utilize external collaborations and currently maintain several active early-stage research and discovery focused collaborations. In the future, we may seek additional collaboration arrangements for the commercialization, or potentially for the development, of certain of our drug candidates depending on the merits of retaining commercialization rights for ourselves as compared to entering into collaboration arrangements. To the extent that we decide to enter into additional collaboration agreements in the future, we may face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Moreover, collaboration arrangements are complex and time-consuming to negotiate, document, implement and maintain and challenging to manage. We may not be successful in our efforts to prudently manage our existing collaborations or to enter new ones should we chose to do so. The terms of new collaborations, or other arrangements that we may establish may not be favorable to us.

The success of our collaboration arrangements will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators and partners. Collaborations are subject to numerous risks, which may include risks that:

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Risks Related to Intellectual Property

Our senolytic medicine platform and any future products that we commercialize could be alleged to infringe patent rights and other proprietary rights of third parties, which may require costly litigation and, if we are not successful, could cause us to pay substantial damages and/or limit our ability to commercialize our products.

Our commercial success depends on our ability to develop, manufacture and market our senolytic medicines and future drug candidates and use our proprietary technology without infringing the patents and other proprietary rights of third parties. Intellectual property disputes can be costly to defend and may cause our business, operating results and financial condition to suffer. We operate in an industry with extensive intellectual property litigation. As the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that there may be patents issued to third parties that relate to our products and technology of which we are not aware or that we may need to challenge to continue our operations as currently contemplated.

Whether merited or not, we may face allegations that we have infringed the trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties, including patents held by our competitors or by non-practicing entities. We may also face allegations that our employees have misappropriated the intellectual property rights of their former employers or other third parties.

Litigation may make it necessary to defend ourselves by determining the scope, enforceability, and validity of third-party proprietary rights, or to establish our proprietary rights. Regardless of whether claims that we are infringing patents or other intellectual property rights have merit, the claims can be time consuming, divert management attention and financial resources and are costly to evaluate and defend. Results of any such litigation are difficult to predict and may require us to stop treating certain conditions, obtain licenses or modify our products and features while we develop non-infringing substitutes, or may result in significant settlement costs. For example, litigation can involve substantial damages for infringement (and if the court finds that the infringement was willful, we could be ordered to pay treble damages and the patent owner’s attorneys’ fees), and the court could prohibit us from selling or licensing our products unless the third-party licenses rights to us, which it is not required to do at a commercially reasonable price or at all. If a license is available from a third party, we may have to pay substantial royalties, upfront fees or grant cross-licenses to intellectual property rights for our products. We may also have to redesign our products so they do not infringe third-party intellectual property rights, which may not be possible at all or may require substantial monetary expenditures and time, during which our products may not be available for manufacture, use, or sale.

In addition, patent applications in the United States and many international jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after the filing of certain priority documents (or, in some cases, are not published until they issue as patents) and publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries. Thus, we cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications or made public disclosures relating to our technology or our contemplated technology. A third party may have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications covering our products or technology similar to ours. Any such patent application may have priority over our patent applications or patents, which could further require us to obtain rights to issued patents covering such technologies. If another party has filed a U.S. patent application on inventions similar to ours, depending on whether the timing of the filing date falls under certain patent laws, we may have to participate in a priority contest (such as an interference proceeding) declared by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, to determine priority of invention in the United States. The costs of patent and other proceedings could be substantial, and it is possible that such efforts would be unsuccessful if it is

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determined that the other party had independently arrived at the same or similar invention prior to our own invention, resulting in a loss of our U.S. patent position with respect to such inventions

From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business with respect to intellectual property. Although we are not currently subject to any claims from third parties asserting infringement of their intellectual property rights, in the future, we may receive claims from third parties asserting infringement of their intellectual property rights. Future litigation may be necessary to establish our intellectual property rights or to defend ourselves by determining the scope, enforceability and validity of third-party intellectual property rights. There can be no assurance with respect to the outcome of any current or future litigation brought by or against us, and the outcome of any such litigation could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Litigation is inherently unpredictable and outcomes are uncertain. Further, as the costs and outcome of these types of claims and proceedings can vary significantly, it is difficult to estimate potential losses that may occur. Accordingly, we are unable at this time to estimate the effects of these potential future lawsuits on our financial condition, operations or cash flows.

Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Finally, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.

If we are unable to obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property protection directed to our senolytic medicine platform and any future technologies that we develop, others may be able to make, use, or sell products substantially the same as ours, which could adversely affect our ability to compete in the market.

As of March 1, 2022, we own, co-own, or have an exclusive license in certain fields of use to more than 150 patents and pending applications in the United States and foreign jurisdictions. This portfolio includes 47 issued and allowed U.S. patents and applications and 38 granted and allowed foreign patents and applications, respectively. A composition of matter patent filing claiming the specific chemical structure of UBX1325 was issued in the U.S. on April 20, 2021, which will extend our loss of exclusivity on this molecule to 2039, not including any patent term adjustment or patent term extensions to which it may be entitled.

We have not pursued or maintained, and may not pursue or maintain in the future, patent protection for our products in every country or territory in which we may sell our products. In addition, we cannot be sure that any of our pending patent applications or pending trademark applications will issue or that, if issued, they will issue in a form that will be advantageous to us. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO, international patent offices or judicial bodies may deny or significantly narrow claims made under our patent applications and our issued patents may be successfully challenged, may be designed around, or may otherwise be of insufficient scope to provide us with protection for our commercial products. Further, the USPTO, international trademark offices or judicial bodies may deny our trademark applications and, even if published or registered, these trademarks may not effectively protect our brand and goodwill. Like patents, trademarks also may be successfully opposed or challenged.

We cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use or unauthorized reverse engineering of our technology. Moreover, third parties may independently develop technologies that are competitive with ours and such competitive technologies may or may not infringe our intellectual property. The enforcement of our intellectual property rights also depends on the success of our legal actions against these infringers in the respective country or forum, but these actions may not be successful. As with all granted intellectual property, such intellectual property may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, may not provide specific protection and/or may not prove to be enforceable in actions against specific alleged infringers.

The market for biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and treatments for diseases of aging is highly competitive and subject to rapid technological change. Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to maintain a competitive position in the development and protection of technologies and products for use in these fields and upon our ability

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to obtain, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights in connection therewith. We seek to obtain and maintain patents and other intellectual property rights to restrict the ability of others to market products that misappropriate our technology and/or infringe our intellectual property to unfairly and illegally compete with our products. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, our competitive position and our business could be harmed, as third parties may be able to make, use, or sell products that are substantially the same as ours without incurring the sizeable development and licensing costs that we have incurred, which would adversely affect our ability to compete in the market.

We use a combination of patents, trademarks, know-how, confidentiality procedures, and contractual provisions to protect our proprietary technology. However, these protections may not be adequate and may not provide us with any competitive advantage. For example, patents may not issue from any of our currently pending or any future patent applications, and our issued patents and any future patents that may issue may not survive legal challenges to their scope, validity or enforceability, or provide significant protection for us.

If we or one of our current or future collaborators were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering one of our current drug candidates or future drug candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace.

Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness or nonenablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar claims before the USPTO, even outside the context of litigation. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable.

With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on our drug candidates. Such a loss of patent protection would have a material adverse impact on our business.

Even if our patents are determined by a court to be valid and enforceable, they may not be interpreted sufficiently broadly to prevent others from marketing products similar to ours or designing around our patents. For example, third parties may be able to make products that are similar to ours but that are not covered by the claims of our patents. Third parties may assert that we or our licensors were not the first to make the inventions covered by our issued patents or pending patent applications. The claims of our issued patents or patent applications when issued may not cover our proposed commercial technologies or the future products that we develop. We may not have freedom to commercialize unimpeded by the patent rights of others. Third parties may have dominating, blocking, or other patents relevant to our technology of which we are not aware. There may be prior public disclosures or art that could be deemed to invalidate one or more of our patent claims. Further, we may not develop additional proprietary technologies in the future, and, if we do, they may not be patentable.

Patent law can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important principles remain unresolved. In the United States and in many international jurisdictions, policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in patents can be inconsistent. The U.S. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have made, and will likely continue to make, changes in how the patent laws of the United States are interpreted. Similarly, international courts have made, and will likely continue to make, changes in how the patent laws in their respective jurisdictions are interpreted. We cannot predict future changes in the interpretation of patent laws or changes to patent laws that might be enacted into law by U.S. and international legislative bodies. Those changes may materially affect our patents, our ability to obtain patents or the patents and patent applications of our licensors. Patent reform legislation in the United States could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. For example, on September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or Leahy-Smith Act, was signed into law. The Leahy-Smith Act included a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art, may affect patent litigation, and switch the U.S. patent system from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-to-file” system. Under a “first-to-file” system, assuming the other

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requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application generally will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether another inventor had made the invention earlier. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently developed new regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, and in particular, the first-to-file provisions, only became effective on March 16, 2013. The Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

In addition, we have a number of international patents and patent applications and expect to continue to pursue patent protection in many of the significant markets in which we intend to do business. The laws of some international jurisdictions may not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as laws in the United States, and many companies have encountered significant difficulties in obtaining, protecting, and defending such rights in international jurisdictions. If we encounter such difficulties or we are otherwise precluded from effectively protecting our intellectual property rights in international jurisdictions, our business prospects could be substantially harmed.

Varying filing dates in international countries may also permit intervening third parties to allege priority to certain technology.

Patent terms may be shortened or lengthened by, for example, terminal disclaimers, patent term adjustments, supplemental protection certificates, and patent term extensions. Patent term extensions and supplemental protection certificates, and the like, may be impacted by the regulatory process and may not significantly lengthen the patent term. Non-payment or delay in payment of patent fees or annuities, delay in patent filings or delay in extension filing (including any patent term extension or adjustment filing), whether intentional or unintentional, may also result in the loss of patent rights important to our business. Certain countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to other parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against other parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of any patents.

In addition to the protection afforded by patents, we rely on confidentiality agreements to protect confidential information and proprietary know-how that is not patentable or that we elect not to patent, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce and any other elements of our drug candidate discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology that is not covered by patents. We seek to protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, scientific advisors, and contractors. We cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our confidential information or proprietary technology and processes. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and other confidential information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached and detecting the disclosure or misappropriation of confidential information and enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated confidential information is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Further, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our confidential information may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors, in which case we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. We may in the future rely on trade secret protection, which would be subject to the risks identified above with respect to confidential information.

Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. From time to time, we review our competitors’ products, and may in the future seek to enforce our patents or other rights against potential infringement. However, the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property. We may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. Our competitors may also independently develop similar technology. Any inability to meaningfully protect our intellectual property could result in competitors offering products that incorporate our product or service features, which could reduce demand for our products. In addition, we may need to defend our patents from third-party challenges, such as (but not limited to) interferences, derivation

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proceedings, reexamination proceedings, post-grant review, inter partes review, third-party submissions, oppositions, nullity actions or other patent proceedings. We may need to initiate infringement claims or litigation.

Adverse proceedings such as litigation can be expensive, time consuming and may divert the efforts of our technical and managerial personnel, which could in turn harm our business, whether or not we receive a determination favorable to us. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court or other judicial body may decide that the patent we seek to enforce is invalid or unenforceable, or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that the patent in question does not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Some of our competitors may be able to devote significantly more resources to intellectual property litigation and may have significantly broader patent portfolios to assert against us if we assert our rights against them. Further, because of the substantial discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be disclosed or otherwise compromised during litigation.

We may not be able to correctly estimate or control our future operating expenses in relation to obtaining intellectual property, enforcing intellectual property and/or defending intellectual property, which could affect operating expenses. Our operating expenses may fluctuate significantly in the future as a result of a variety of factors, including the costs of preparing, filing, prosecuting, defending, and enforcing patent and trademark claims and other intellectual property-related costs, including adverse proceedings (such as litigation) costs.

Our intellectual property agreements with third parties may be subject to disagreements over contract interpretation, which could narrow the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology or increase our financial or other obligations to our licensors.

Certain provisions in our intellectual property agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could affect the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or affect financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who in fact conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. Our assignment agreements may not be self-executing or may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected.

We may not be able to protect our proprietary information and technology adequately. Although we use reasonable efforts to protect our proprietary information, technology, and know-how, our employees, consultants, contractors and outside scientific advisors may unintentionally or willfully disclose our information to competitors. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained and is using any of our proprietary information, technology or know-how is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States are sometimes less willing to protect proprietary information, technology, and know-how. We rely, in part, on non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and other parties to protect our proprietary information, technology, and know-how. These agreements may be breached and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. Moreover, others may independently develop similar or equivalent proprietary information, and third parties may otherwise gain access to our proprietary knowledge.

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Risks Related to Government Regulation

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for a drug candidate, our products will remain subject to regulatory scrutiny.

If our drug candidates are approved, they will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, conduct of post-marketing studies, and submission of safety, efficacy, and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable foreign regulatory authorities.

Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authority requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations. As such, we and our contract manufacturers will be subject to continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any approved marketing application. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money, and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, and quality control.

We will have to comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for our products. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs and biologics are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved label. As such, we may not promote our products for indications or uses for which they do not have approval. The holder of an approved application must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling, or manufacturing process. We could also be asked to conduct post-marketing clinical studies to verify the safety and efficacy of our products in general or in specific patient subsets. An unsuccessful post-marketing study or failure to complete such a study could result in the withdrawal of marketing approval.

If a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, or disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of a product, such regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product or us, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency or enforcement authority may, among other things:

Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our products. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, the value of our company and our operating results will be adversely affected.

Moreover, the policies of the FDA and of other regulatory authorities may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our drug candidates. We cannot

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predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad.

If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may be subject to enforcement action, and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

If any of our small molecule drug candidates obtain regulatory approval, additional competitors could enter the market with generic versions of such drugs, which may result in a material decline in sales of affected products.

Under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or the Hatch-Waxman Act, a pharmaceutical manufacturer may file an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, seeking approval of a generic version of an approved, small molecule innovator product. Under the Hatch-Waxman Act, a manufacturer may also submit a new drug application, or NDA, under section 505(b)(2) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that references the FDA’s prior approval of the small molecule innovator product. A 505(b)(2) NDA product may be for a new or improved version of the original innovator product. The Hatch-Waxman Act also provides for certain periods of regulatory exclusivity, which preclude FDA approval (or in some circumstances, FDA filing and review) of an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA. In addition to the benefits of regulatory exclusivity, an innovator NDA holder may have patents claiming the active ingredient, product formulation or an approved use of the drug, which would be listed with the product in the FDA publication, “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” known as the Orange Book. If there are patents listed in the Orange Book for a product, a generic or 505(b)(2) applicant that seeks to market its product before expiration of the patents must include in their applications what is known as a “Paragraph IV” certification, challenging the validity or enforceability of, or claiming non-infringement of, the listed patent or patents. Notice of the certification must be given to the patent owner and NDA holder and if, within 45 days of receiving notice, either the patent owner or NDA holder sues for patent infringement, approval of the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA is stayed for up to 30 months.

Accordingly, if any of our small molecule drug candidates, such as UBX1325, are approved, competitors could file ANDAs for generic versions of our small molecule drug products or 505(b)(2) NDAs that reference our small molecule drug products. If there are patents listed for our small molecule drug products in the Orange Book, those ANDAs and 505(b)(2) NDAs would be required to include a certification as to each listed patent indicating whether the ANDA applicant does or does not intend to challenge the patent. We cannot predict which, if any, patents in our current portfolio or patents we may obtain in the future will be eligible for listing in the Orange Book, how any generic competitor would address such patents, whether we would sue on any such patents, or the outcome of any such suit.

We may not be successful in securing or maintaining proprietary patent protection for products and technologies we develop or license. Moreover, if any of our owned or in-licensed patents that are listed in the Orange Book are successfully challenged by way of a Paragraph IV certification and subsequent litigation, the affected product could immediately face generic competition and its sales would likely decline rapidly and materially.

Any biologic, or large molecule, drug candidates for which we intend to seek approval may face competition sooner than anticipated.

If we are successful in achieving regulatory approval to commercialize any biologic drug candidate faster than our competitors, such drug candidates may face competition from biosimilar products. In the United States, large molecule drug candidates are regulated by the FDA as biologic products subject to approval under the biologics license application, or BLA, pathway. The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, creates an abbreviated pathway for the approval of biosimilar and interchangeable biologic products following the approval of an original BLA. The abbreviated regulatory pathway establishes legal authority for the FDA to review and approve biosimilar biologics, including the possible designation of a biosimilar as “interchangeable” based on its similarity to an existing brand product. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product cannot be approved by the FDA until 12 years after the original branded product was approved under a BLA. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation, and meaning are subject to uncertainty.

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Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar product, once approved, will be substituted for any one of our reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biologic products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing. In addition, a competitor could decide to forego the biosimilar approval path and submit a full BLA after completing its own preclinical studies and clinical studies. In such cases, any exclusivity to which we may be eligible under the BPCIA would not prevent the competitor from marketing its product as soon as it is approved.

If competitors are able to obtain marketing approval for biosimilars referencing our large molecule drug candidates, if approved, such products may become subject to competition from such biosimilars, with the attendant competitive pressure and potential adverse consequences. Such competitive products may be able to immediately compete with us in each indication for which our drug candidates may have received approval.

Enacted and future healthcare legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our drug candidates and may affect the prices we may set.

In the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes to the healthcare system that could affect our future results of operations. In particular, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the U.S. federal and state levels that seek to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of healthcare. For example, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and ACA, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively the Affordable Care Act, was enacted, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Among the provisions of the ACA, those of greatest importance to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries include the following:

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Since its enactment, there have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or the Tax Act, includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the ACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate”. In addition, there may be other efforts to challenge, repeal or replace the ACA that may impact our business or financial condition.

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, led to aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year. These reductions went into effect in April 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will remain in effect through 2030, with the exception of a temporary suspension from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021, unless additional action is taken by Congress. In addition, in January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.

Individual states in the United States have also become increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third-party payors or other restrictions could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. This could reduce the ultimate demand for our drug candidates or put pressure on our product pricing. Moreover, payment methodologies may be subject to changes in healthcare legislation and regulatory initiatives. For example, CMS may develop new payment and delivery models, such as bundled payment models. In addition, recently there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products.

In the European Union, similar political, economic and regulatory developments may affect our ability to profitably commercialize our drug candidates, if approved. In addition to continuing pressure on prices and cost containment measures, legislative developments at the EU or member state level may result in significant additional requirements or obstacles that may increase our operating costs. The delivery of healthcare in the European Union, including the establishment and operation of health services and the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, is almost exclusively a matter for national, rather than EU, law and policy. National governments and health service providers have different priorities and approaches to the delivery of health care and the pricing and reimbursement of products in that context. In general, however, the healthcare budgetary constraints in most European Union member states have resulted in restrictions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines by relevant health service providers. Coupled with ever-increasing EU and national regulatory burdens on those wishing to develop and market products, this could prevent or delay marketing approval of our drug candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to commercialize our drug candidates, if approved. In markets outside of the United States and European Union, reimbursement and healthcare payment systems vary significantly by country, and many countries have instituted price ceilings on specific products and therapies.

We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action in the United States, the European Union or any other jurisdiction. If we or any third parties we may engage are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we or such third parties are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our drug candidates may lose any regulatory approval that may have been obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

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Our business operations and current and future relationships with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations and customers will be subject to applicable healthcare regulatory laws, which could expose us to penalties.

Our business operations and current and future arrangements with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations and customers, may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations. These laws may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we conduct our operations, including how we research, market, sell and distribute our drug candidates, if approved.

Such laws include:

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Ensuring that our internal operations and future business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental laws and regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from government-funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid or similar programs in other countries or jurisdictions, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time-consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired.

U.S. tax legislation and future changes to applicable U.S. tax laws and regulations may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, or interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us, any of which could adversely affect our business operations and financial performance. We are currently unable to predict whether such changes will occur and, if so, the ultimate impact on our business. To the extent that such changes have a negative impact on us, our suppliers or our customers, including as a result of related uncertainty, these changes may materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

Our stock price may be volatile and you may not be able to resell shares of our common stock at or above the price you paid.

The trading price of our common stock may be highly volatile and may be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control.

These factors include those discussed in this “Risk Factors” section of this report and others such as:

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In addition, the stock markets in general, and the markets for pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and biotechnology stocks in particular, have experienced extreme volatility as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that may be unrelated to the operating performance of the issuer. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price or liquidity of our common stock. In the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against the issuer. If any of our stockholders were to bring such a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit and the attention of our management would be diverted from the operation of our business.

An active, liquid and orderly market for our common stock may not develop and may not be maintained.

Prior to our initial public offering in May 2018, there was no public market for shares of our common stock. Although our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, an active trading market for our common stock may never be sustained on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or any other exchange in the future. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other businesses, applications, or technologies using our shares as consideration.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they issue an adverse or misleading opinion regarding our stock, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. In the event any of the analysts who cover us issue an adverse or

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misleading opinion regarding us, our business model, our intellectual property or our stock performance, or if our clinical studies and operating results fail to meet the expectations of analysts, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

If we sell shares of our common stock in future financings, stockholders may experience immediate dilution and, as a result, our stock price may decline.

We may from time to time issue additional shares of common stock at a discount from the current trading price of our common stock. As a result, our stockholders would experience immediate dilution upon the purchase of any shares of our common stock sold at such discount. In addition, as opportunities present themselves, we may enter into financing or similar arrangements in the future, including the issuance of debt securities, preferred stock or common stock. For example, on June 3, 2019, we filed a Registration Statement on Form S-3, covering the offering of up to $250.0 million of shares of common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants and units, and entered into a sales agreement, or the June 2019 Sales Agreement, with Cowen and Company, LLC, or Cowen, to sell shares of our common stock, from time to time, with aggregate gross sales proceeds of up to $75.0 million, through an at-the-market equity offering program, or Initial ATM Offering Program, under which Cowen acts as our sales agent. On July 31, 2020, we entered into the July 2020 Sales Agreement with Cowen to sell shares of our common stock, from time to time, with aggregate gross sales proceeds of up to $50.0 million, through an additional at-the-market equity offering program, or our Additional ATM Offering Program, under which Cowen acts as our sales agent. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we issued and sold 5,002,257 shares of our common stock through our Initial ATM Offering Program. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we issued and sold 1,187,068 shares of the Company’s common stock sold through the Initial ATM Offering Program and 707,459 shares of the Company’s common stock sold through the Additional ATM Offering Program. On September 29, 2021, we entered into a Purchase Agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC, under which we may at our discretion sell up to $30.0 million shares of our common stock, subject to certain daily limits, applicable prices, and conditions. As of December 31, 2021, we issued and sold 4,172,855 shares of our common stock under our Purchase Agreement with Lincoln Park amounting to $8.3 million in gross proceeds. In addition, under the Purchase Agreement, we issued 252,447 shares of our common stock to Lincoln Park as consideration for its commitment to purchase shares of our common stock under the Purchase Agreement.

We generally have the right to control the timing and amount of any future sales of our common stock to Lincoln Park. Sales of shares of our common stock, if any, to Lincoln Park will depend upon market conditions and other factors to be determined by us. We may ultimately decide to sell to Lincoln Park all, some or none of the additional shares of our common stock that may be available for us to sell under the Purchase Agreement. If and when we do sell shares of our common stock to Lincoln Park, after Lincoln Park has acquired the shares of common stock, Lincoln Park may resell all, some or none of those shares of common stock at any time or in its discretion. The sale by Lincoln Park of a substantial number of shares of our common stock issued by us to Lincoln Park under the Purchase Agreement or the anticipation of such sales, could make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and at a price that we might otherwise wish to effect sales.

In addition, on December 15, 2021 we entered into an amendment to our Loan and Security Agreement dated August 3, 2020 with Hercules Capital, Inc., under the terms of Hercules (including any of its assignees) has the option for a period of six (6) months to convert up to $5.0 million of the outstanding principal under the existing loan into shares of the Company’s common stock. As of December 31, 2021, we issued 1,727,361 shares of our common stock to Hercules in accordance with this amendment.

Sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock or other securities by our stockholders, by us under the Shelf Registration Statement, whether pursuant to the ATM Offering Program or otherwise or by Lincoln Park or through the Hercules Amendment or through any other means could also lower the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of equity or equity-related securities.

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Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

We have incurred substantial losses during our history and may never achieve profitability. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset a portion of future taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire, if ever. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research and development tax credits) to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. We may have experienced ownership changes in the past and may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership (some of which shifts are outside our control). As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change NOLs to offset such taxable income could be subject to limitations. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply. As a result, even if we achieve profitability, we may be unable to use a material portion of our NOLs and other tax attributes.

Provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable and may lead to entrenchment of management.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could delay or prevent changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of our board of directors. These provisions include the following:

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We are also subject to the anti-takeover provisions contained in Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Under Section 203, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or, among other exceptions, the board of directors has approved the transaction.

Claims for indemnification by our directors and officers may reduce our available funds to satisfy successful third-party claims against us and may reduce the amount of money available to us.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated bylaws and our indemnification agreements that we have entered into with our directors and officers provide that:

We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our common stock, and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.

We do not currently intend to pay any cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. We currently intend to invest our future earnings, if any, to fund our growth. Therefore, you are not likely to receive any dividends on your common stock for the foreseeable future. Since we do not intend to pay dividends, your ability to receive a return on your investment will depend on any future appreciation in the market value of our common stock. There is no guarantee that our common stock will appreciate or even maintain the price at which our holders have purchased it.

General Risk Factors

Unfavorable global economic or political conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets. Furthermore, the market for products with the potential to treat diseases of aging, particularly those affecting large populations in a wide range of geographic locations, may be particularly vulnerable to unfavorable economic conditions. A global financial crisis or a global or regional political disruption, including

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most recently as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, have caused and could continue to cause extreme volatility in the capital and credit markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn or political disruption could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our current drug candidates or any future drug candidates, if approved, and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy or political disruption could also strain our manufacturers or suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption, or cause our customers to delay making payments for our services. Weakened or declining economic conditions could be caused by a number of factors. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the political or economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.

We or the third parties upon whom we depend may be adversely affected by earthquakes, other natural disasters or unforeseen pandemics and public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.

Our corporate headquarters and other facilities are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which in the past has experienced both severe earthquakes and wildfires. Although we carry earthquake insurance, it is limited in scope. Earthquakes, wildfires or other natural disasters could severely disrupt our operations, and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

If a natural disaster, power outage or other event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our headquarters, that damaged critical infrastructure, such as our enterprise financial systems or manufacturing resource planning and enterprise quality systems, or that otherwise disrupted operations, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible, for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. The disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place currently are limited and are unlikely to prove adequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which, particularly when taken together with our lack of earthquake insurance, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Measures taken in response to a pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which causes a public health emergency, could also disrupt our operations, and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. For example, in mid-March 2020, in alignment with federal, state and local guidance designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, we transitioned to a remote work plan and reduced onsite staffing model for all employees who cannot perform their work from home, such as our laboratory, operations, and facilities staff. As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, we may be required to take additional actions that could impact our operations if required by applicable laws or regulations or if we determine them to be in the best interests of our employees.

Furthermore, integral parties in our supply chain are similarly vulnerable to natural disasters or other sudden, unforeseen and severe adverse events. If such an event were to affect our supply chain, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Significant disruptions of information  technology systems or breaches of data security could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We collect and maintain information in digital form that is necessary to conduct our business, and we are increasingly dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business. In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, store and transmit large amounts of confidential information, including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information. It is critical that we do so in a secure manner to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of such confidential information. We have established physical, electronic and organizational measures to safeguard and secure our systems to prevent a data compromise, and rely on commercially available systems, software, tools, and monitoring to provide security for our information technology systems and the processing, transmission and storage of digital information. We have also outsourced elements of our information technology infrastructure, and as a result a number of third-party vendors may or could have access to our confidential information. Our internal information technology systems and infrastructure, and those of our current and any future collaborators, contractors and consultants and other third parties on which we rely, are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, malware, natural disasters, terrorism, war, telecommunication and electrical failures, cyberattacks or cyber-intrusions over the Internet, attachments to emails, persons inside our organization, or persons with access to systems inside our organization.

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The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyberattacks or cyber-intrusion, including by computer hackers, “phishing” attacks, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. In addition, the prevalent use of mobile devices that access confidential information increases the risk of data security breaches, which could lead to the loss of confidential information or other intellectual property. As a result of COVID-19, we may face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance on internet technology and the number of our employees that are working remotely, which may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. The costs to us to mitigate network security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and while we have implemented security measures to protect our data security and information technology systems, our efforts to address these problems may not be successful, and these problems could result in unexpected interruptions, delays, cessation of service and other harm to our business and our competitive position. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our product development programs. For example, the loss of clinical study data from completed or ongoing or planned clinical studies could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data.

Moreover, if a computer security breach affects our systems, or those of our current and any future collaborators, contractors and consultants and other third parties on which we rely, or results in the unauthorized release of personally identifiable information, our reputation could be materially damaged. In addition, such a breach may require notification to governmental agencies, the media or individuals pursuant to various federal and state privacy and security laws, if applicable, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, and its implementing rules and regulations, as well as regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission and state breach notification laws. We would also be exposed to a risk of loss or litigation and potential liability, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, consultants, commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, consultants, any future commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or other unauthorized activities that violate the laws and regulations of the FDA and other similar regulatory bodies, including those laws that require the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such regulatory bodies; manufacturing standards; U.S. federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse, data privacy laws and other similar non-U.S. laws; or laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use or misrepresentation of information obtained in the course of clinical studies, the creation of fraudulent data in our preclinical studies or clinical studies, or illegal misappropriation of product, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third-parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. In addition, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and financial results, including, without limitation, the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgements, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other U.S. healthcare programs, individual imprisonment, other sanctions, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

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Our business involves the use of hazardous materials, and we and our third-party manufacturers and suppliers must comply with environmental laws and regulations, which can be expensive and restrict how we do business.

Our research and development activities and our third-party manufacturers’ and suppliers’ activities involve the controlled storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials owned by us, including the components of our product and drug candidates and other hazardous compounds. We and any third-party manufacturers and suppliers we engage are subject to numerous federal, state and local environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permitting requirements, including those governing laboratory procedures; the generation, handling, use, storage, treatment, and disposal of hazardous and regulated materials and wastes; the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air and water; and employee health and safety. Our operations involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological and radioactive materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste. In some cases, these hazardous materials and various wastes resulting from their use are stored at our and our manufacturers’ facilities pending their use and disposal. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination, which could cause an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development efforts and business operations, environmental damage resulting in costly clean-up and liabilities under applicable laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and specified waste products.

Although we believe that the safety procedures utilized by our third-party manufacturers for handling and disposing of these materials generally comply with the standards prescribed by these laws and regulations, we cannot guarantee that this is the case or eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. Under certain environmental laws, we could be held responsible for costs relating to any contamination at our current or past facilities and at third-party facilities. In such an event, we may be held liable for any resulting damages and such liability could exceed our resources and state or federal or other applicable authorities may curtail our use of certain materials and/or interrupt our business operations. Furthermore, environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance.

Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research, product development and manufacturing efforts. In addition, we cannot entirely eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials or wastes. Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not carry specific biological or hazardous waste insurance coverage, and our property, casualty, and general liability insurance policies specifically exclude coverage for damages and fines arising from biological or hazardous waste exposure or contamination. Accordingly, in the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for damages or be penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources, and our clinical studies or regulatory approvals could be suspended, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property.

We may also be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents or other intellectual property. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or ownership. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and distraction to management and other employees.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on drug candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to

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prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biopharmaceuticals, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful.

Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.

Actual or perceived failures to comply with U.S. and foreign privacy and data protection laws, regulations and standards may adversely affect our business, operations and financial performance.

We are subject to or affected by numerous federal, state and foreign laws and regulations, as well as regulatory guidance, governing the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and security of personal information, such as information that we collect about patients and healthcare providers in connection with clinical trials in the United States and abroad. The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. This evolution may create uncertainty in our business, affect our or any service providers’, contractors’ or future collaborators’ ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to collect, store, transfer use and share personal information, necessitate the acceptance of more onerous obligations in our contracts, result in liability or impose additional costs on us. The cost of compliance with these laws, regulations and standards is high and is likely to increase in the future. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our collaborators, service providers and contractors to comply with federal, state or foreign laws or regulation, our internal policies and procedures or our contracts governing processing of personal information could result in negative publicity, diversion of management time and effort and proceedings against us by governmental entities or others. In many jurisdictions, enforcement actions and consequences for noncompliance are rising.

In the United States, HIPAA imposes privacy, security and breach reporting obligations with respect to individually identifiable health information upon “covered entities” (health plans, health care clearinghouses and certain health care providers), and their respective business associates, individuals or entities that create, receive, maintain or transmit protected health information in connection with providing a service for or on behalf of a covered entity.

HIPAA mandates the reporting of certain breaches of health information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, affected individuals and if the breach is large enough, the media. Entities that are found to be in violation of HIPAA as the result of a breach of unsecured protected health information, a complaint about privacy practices or an audit by HHS, may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative fines and penalties and/or additional reporting and oversight obligations if required to enter into a resolution agreement and corrective action plan with HHS to settle allegations of HIPAA non-compliance. Even when HIPAA does not apply, according to the Federal Trade Commission, or the FTC, violating consumers’ privacy rights or failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal information secure may constitute unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. The FTC expects a company’s data security measures to be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of consumer information it holds, the size and complexity of its business, and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities. Individually identifiable health information is considered sensitive data that merits stronger safeguards.

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In addition, certain state laws govern the privacy and security of personal information, including health-related information, in certain circumstances, some of which are more stringent than HIPAA and many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts. Failure to comply with these laws, where applicable, can result in the imposition of significant civil and/or criminal penalties and private litigation. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, on June 28, 2018, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. Some observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States, which could increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business. Further, the California Privacy Rights Act, or the CPRA, recently passed in California as well. The CPRA will impose additional data protection obligations on covered businesses, including additional consumer rights processes, limitations on data uses, new audit requirements for higher risk data, and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. It will also create a new California data protection agency authorized to issue substantive regulations and could result in increased privacy and information security enforcement. The majority of the provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and additional compliance investment and potential business process changes may be required.

Our operations abroad may also be subject to increased scrutiny or attention from data protection authorities. Many countries in these regions have established or are in the process of establishing privacy and data security legal frameworks with which we, our collaborators, service providers, including our CRO, and contractors must comply. For example, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, went into effect in May 2018 and imposes strict requirements for processing the personal information of subjects within the European Economic Area, or EEA, including clinical trial data. Further, applicable privacy laws and court decisions could impact our ability to transfer personal data internationally. Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and compliance uncertainty regarding certain transfers of personal data from the EEA. For example, on July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union, or the CJEU, invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, or the Privacy Shield, under which personal data could be transferred from the EEA to United States entities who had self-certified under the Privacy Shield scheme, and imposed further restrictions on use of the standard contractual clauses, or SCCs. As a result, the Privacy Shield is no longer a valid mechanism for transferring personal data from the EEA to the United States. The SCC restrictions include a requirement for companies to carry out a transfer impact assessment which, among other things, assesses the laws governing access to personal data in the recipient country and considers whether supplementary measures that provide privacy protections additional to those provided under SCCs will need to be implemented to ensure an essentially equivalent level of data protection to that afforded in the EEA. The European Commission issued revised SCCs on June 4, 2021 to account for the decision of the CJEU and recommendations made by the European Data Protection Board. The revised SCCs must be used for relevant new data transfers from September 27, 2021; existing standard contractual clauses arrangements must be migrated to the revised clauses by December 27, 2022. There is some uncertainty around whether the revised clauses can be used for all types of data transfers, particularly whether they can be relied on for data transfers to non-EEA entities subject to the GDPR. The GDPR has and will continue to increase compliance burdens on us, including by mandating potentially burdensome documentation requirements and granting certain rights to individuals to control how we collect, use, disclose, retain and process information about them. The processing of sensitive personal data, such as health data, may impose heightened compliance burdens under the GDPR and is a topic of active interest among foreign regulators.

In addition, the GDPR provides for more robust regulatory enforcement and fines of up to €20 million or 4% of the annual global revenue of the noncompliant company, whichever is greater. Further, beginning January 1, 2021, we may have to comply with the GDPR and also the United Kingdom GDPR, or UK GDPR, which, together with the amended UK Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in United Kingdom national law. The UK GDPR mirrors the fines under the GDPR, i.e. fines up to the greater of €20 million (£17.5 million) or 4% of global turnover. The relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, and it is unclear how United Kingdom data protection laws and regulations will develop in the medium to longer term. The European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision in favor of the United Kingdom, enabling data transfers from EU member states to the United Kingdom without additional safeguards.

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However, the UK adequacy decision will automatically expire in June 2025 unless the European Commission re-assesses and renews/ extends that decision.

We incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives. We may fail to comply with the rules that apply to public companies, including Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which could result in sanctions or other penalties that would harm our business.

We have incurred and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses as a public company, including costs resulting from public company reporting obligations under the Exchange Act and regulations regarding corporate governance practices. The listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Select Market and the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, require that we satisfy certain corporate governance requirements relating to director independence, filing annual and interim reports, stockholder meetings, approvals and voting, soliciting proxies, conflicts of interest and a code of conduct. Our management and other personnel have devoted and will need to devote a substantial amount of time to ensure that we comply with all of these requirements. Moreover, the reporting requirements, rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costlier. Any changes we make to comply with these obligations may not be sufficient to allow us to satisfy our obligations as a public company on a timely basis, or at all. These reporting requirements, rules and regulations, coupled with the increase in potential litigation exposure associated with being a public company, could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or board committees or to serve as executive officers, or to obtain certain types of insurance, including directors’ and officers’ insurance, on acceptable terms.

We are subject to Section 404 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, and the related rules of the SEC, which generally require our management and independent registered public accounting firm to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Section 404 requires an annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. However, for so long as we remain an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404. Once we are no longer an emerging growth company or, if prior to such date, we opt to no longer take advantage of the applicable exemption, we will be required to include an opinion from our independent registered public accounting firm on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting.

During the course of our review of our internal controls we may identify deficiencies in our internal controls that we must remediate. If we identify a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting, we may not detect errors on a timely basis and our financial statements may be materially misstated. We or our independent registered public accounting firm may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting, which could harm our operating results, cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information and cause the trading price of our stock to fall. In addition, as a public company we will be required to file accurate and timely quarterly and annual reports with the SEC under the Exchange Act. In order to report our results of operations and financial statements on an accurate and timely basis, we will depend in part on CROs to provide timely and accurate notice of their costs to us. Any failure to report our financial results on an accurate and timely basis could result in sanctions, lawsuits, delisting of our shares from The Nasdaq Global Select Market or other adverse consequences that would materially harm to our business.

We are an “emerging growth company” and as a result of the reduced disclosure and governance requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, our common stock may be less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, as an “emerging growth company” the JOBS Act allows us to delay adoption of new or revised accounting

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pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period under the JOBS Act. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to the financial statements of issuers who are required to comply with the effective dates for new or revised accounting standards that are applicable to public companies, which may make comparison of our financials to those of other public companies more difficult.

We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company. Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company” which may allow us to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the year following the fifth anniversary of the consummation of our IPO, (2) the last day of the year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (3) the last day of the year in which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeded $700.0 million as of the last business day of the second fiscal quarter of such year or (4) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

Our corporate headquarters are located in South San Francisco, California, where we currently lease approximately 62,000 square feet of office and laboratory space pursuant to a lease dated February 28, 2019, of which approximately 23,000 square feet was subleased to Freenome Holdings, Inc. as of June 2021 through August 31, 2024. The majority of our employees work at our corporate headquarters.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

We are not currently a party to any material litigation or other material legal proceedings.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information for Common Stock

Our common stock has been listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “UBX” since May 3, 2018. As of March 1, 2022, there were 54 holders of record of our common stock. Because many of our shares of common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of beneficial owners of our common stock represented by these record holders.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock or any other securities. We anticipate that we will retain all available funds and any future earnings, if any, for use in the operation of our business and do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, future debt instruments may materially restrict our ability to pay dividends on our common stock. Payment of future cash dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of the board of directors after taking into account various factors, including our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, the requirements of current or then-existing debt instruments and other factors the board of directors deems relevant.

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Performance Graph

This graph is not “soliciting material” or deemed “filed” with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing of Unity Biotechnology, Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), whether made before or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing.

The following graph compares the cumulative total return on our common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. Pursuant to applicable Securities and Exchange Commission rules, all values assume reinvestment of the full amount of all dividends, however no dividends have been declared on our common stock to date. The stockholder returns shown on the graph below are based on historical results and are not necessarily indicative of future performance, and we do not make or endorse any predictions as to future stockholder returns.

Sales of Unregistered Securities

There were no sales of unregistered securities during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Repurchase of Shares or of Company Equity Securities

None.

Item 6. [Reserved]

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with the section entitled “Selected Financial Data” and our audited financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report. This discussion and other parts of this report contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and those discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this report.

Overview

We are a biotechnology company engaged in researching and developing therapeutics to slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging. Our initial focus is on creating senolytic medicines to selectively eliminate senescent cells and thereby treat diseases of aging, such as ophthalmologic diseases.

In July 2020, we filed an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, to commence a Phase 1, first-in-human, open-label, single-ascending dose study of UBX1325 in patients with advanced diabetic macular edema, or DME, and neovascular age-related macular degeneration, or nAMD. UBX1325 is a potent small molecule inhibitor of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member, Bcl-xL, a member of the Bcl-2 family of apoptosis-regulatory proteins. Our goal with UBX1325 is to transformationally improve real-world outcomes for patients with DME, nAMD, and diabetic retinopathy, or DR. In October 2020, we dosed our first patient in a Phase 1 clinical study of UBX1325 to evaluate ocular and systemic safety and tolerability of a single intravitreal injection of UBX1325 by the incidence of dose limiting toxicities and treatment emergent adverse events reported up to 24 weeks after administration. Based on prospectively determined safety criteria, the Phase 1 study was able to dose-escalate beyond the originally planned 5 mcg dose up to 10 mcg, which informed the final dose for the Phase 2a study in DME. In July 2021, we announced positive data from this Phase 1 study of UBX1325 in patients with DME and nAMD for whom anti-VEGF therapy was no longer considered beneficial. On October 5, 2021 we announced 12-week data, on November 9, 2021 we announced 24-week data, and on February 14, 2022 we announced 24-week data from an additionally-enrolled cohort of patients with AMD. UBX1325 was well-tolerated with no signs of intraocular inflammation or other related ocular adversities, and no dose-limiting toxicities or adversities that preclude advancing UBX1325 into later stage clinical development. In DME, following a rapid improvement in BCVA, a mean improvement of 9.5 ETDRS letters from baseline at 6 months in the higher dose cohorts (5, 10 mcg) and 6.9 ETDRS letters from baseline at 6 months in all dose cohorts was observed. In AMD, following a rapid improvement in BCVA, there were improvements or stabilization of both BCVA and CST through 6 months post-injection. In both diseases, the majority of patients treated with UBX1325 showed durable improvement in vision and did not meet objective rescue criteria requiring standard of care anti-VEGF treatment. Among patients who received anti-VEGF rescue, there was minimal change in either mean BCVA or CST following treatment in all but one patient.

In May 2021, we initiated our Phase 2a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and durability of a single intravitreal injection of UBX1325 in a broader population of patients with DME and dosed our first patient in June 2021. Approximately 62 patients will be enrolled, randomized evenly between UBX1325 and sham-injected patients. An analysis of 12-week safety and efficacy data is expected by mid-2022, and patients will continue to be followed through 48 weeks post-treatment in a long-term follow-up. Endpoints being explored in the study include safety and tolerability, changes in BCVA, CST, SRF/IRF, proportion of patients requiring rescue treatment, and durability of effects.

In March 2022 we also enrolled our first patient in our Phase 2 proof-of-concept study in nAMD. This study is expected to randomize 46 patients with wet AMD who have had at least three intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF therapy in the preceding six months and who have residual sub- or intra-retinal fluid. Patients will have received their last anti-VEGF treatment approximately 4-8 weeks prior to screening, and all patients will be followed for approximately 24 weeks after dosing with either UBX1325 or aflibercept. We expect to share 16-week data from this Ph2 study in wet AMD in the fourth quarter of 2022.

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In February 2022, we announced a restructuring to align resources to focus on our ongoing clinical programs and deliver on key development milestones. These actions to prioritize our ophthalmology programs and implement cost saving measures were designed to enable us to achieve multiple key clinical data readouts for UBX1325 as well as support the Tie2 and Tie2/VEGF bispecific program through advanced candidate nomination, with all other pipeline programs paused to focus resources on these advanced programs.

Since the commencement of our operations, we have invested a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in research and development activities, and we have incurred net losses each year since inception. Our net losses were $60.7 million and $93.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We do not have any products approved for sale, and we have never generated any revenue from contracts with customers. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $400.0 million, and we do not expect positive cash flows from operations in the foreseeable future.

Substantially all of our net losses have resulted from costs incurred in connection with our research and development programs and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. Based on our current operating plans, we expect our existing capital resources will fund our planned operating expenses into the first quarter of 2023 which is expected to fund key clinical data readouts for UBX1325, but less than 12 months from the date of this Annual Report. As a result, we will need to raise additional capital. Adequate funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all, particularly in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic uncertainty and potential for local and/or global economic recession. If sufficient funds on acceptable terms are not available when needed, we could be required to significantly reduce our operating expenses and delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of our development programs.

We expect to continue to incur net operating losses for at least the next several years as we continue our research and development efforts, advance our drug candidates through preclinical and clinical development, seek regulatory approval, prepare for and, if approved, proceed to commercialization. We do not expect to generate revenue from any drug candidates that we develop until we obtain regulatory approval for one or more of such drug candidates and commercialize our products or enter into collaborative agreements with third parties.

We rely on third parties in the conduct of our preclinical studies and clinical trials and for manufacturing and supply of our drug candidates. We have no internal manufacturing capabilities, and we will continue to rely on third parties, many of whom are single-source suppliers, for our preclinical and clinical trial materials, as well as the commercial supply of our products. In addition, we do not yet have a marketing or sales organization or commercial infrastructure. Accordingly, we will incur significant expenses to develop a marketing and sales organization and commercial infrastructure in advance of generating any product sales.

COVID-19 Update

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed strains on the providers of healthcare services, including the healthcare institutions, clinical research organizations, or CROs, and Institutional Review Boards under whose auspices we conduct our clinical trials. These strains have resulted in limits on the initiation of new clinical trials, slowing or halting enrollment in existing trials and restrictions placed upon on-site monitoring activities of clinical trials. Prior to the initiation of our Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies of UBX1325, we amended the clinical study protocols to enable remote data collection for clinical sites that were limited in their ability to conduct study visits in person, for either site or patient safety reasons. We also instituted remote data source verification procedures to limit the extent that on-site monitoring was required.

Although we rely on third party manufacturers to supply UBX1325, there have been no disruptions in our supply chain of drug manufacturers necessary to conduct our Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies of UBX1325, and we believe we have sufficient supply of drug inventories to complete our current studies in ophthalmologic disease.

In late February 2020, we created an internal, cross-functional COVID-19 Response Team to closely monitor the evolving situation and manage our response in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local guidance. We have implemented protocols designed to reduce onsite staff, increased testing and monitoring, facilitated remote working and will continue to monitor the situation and plan for re-entry as permitted by applicable laws or regulations and consistent with the best interests of our employees and business needs.

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Components of Our Results of Operations

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for the development of our drug candidates, which include:

We expect our research and development expenses to increase as we advance our drug candidates into and through preclinical and clinical trials and pursue regulatory approval of our drug candidates. The process of conducting the clinical trials required to obtain regulatory approval is costly and time consuming. Clinical trials generally become larger and more costly to conduct as they advance into later stages and we are required to make estimates for expense accruals related to clinical trial expenses. The actual probability of success for our drug candidates may be affected by a variety of factors including: the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates, early clinical data, investment in our clinical program, the ability of collaborators, if any, to successfully develop any drug candidates we license to them, competition, manufacturing capability and commercial viability. We may never succeed in achieving regulatory approval for any of our drug candidates. Program costs that are direct external expenses are tracked on a program-by-program basis once they enter clinical studies. As a result of the uncertainties discussed above, we are unable to determine the duration and completion costs of our research and development projects or when and to what extent we will generate revenue from the commercialization and sale of our drug candidates.

General and Administrative Expenses

Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, allocated facilities costs and other expenses for outside professional services, including legal, audit and accounting services, and depreciation and amortization expense related to property and equipment. Personnel costs consist of salaries, benefits, severance, and stock-based compensation. We expect to continue to incur additional expenses associated with operating as a public company, including expenses related to compliance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and standards applicable to companies listed on a national securities exchange, additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities, and other administrative and professional services.

Change Fair Value of Contingent Consideration

Certain of our license agreements include contingent consideration in the form of additional issuances of our common stock based on the achievement of certain milestones. For asset acquisitions, we assess whether such contingent consideration obligation meets the definition of a derivative and/or can be equity classified, until such time that the contingency or equity classification criteria is met or expires. We have recorded a liability related to contingent consideration as the net settlement criteria of the definition of a derivative had been met and equity classification criteria had not been met. The derivative related to this contingent consideration was measured at fair value as of each balance sheet date with the related change in fair value being reflected in operating results. Gains or

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losses on contingent consideration expense is driven by changes in the estimated fair value of the liability, which is determined using a probability-weighted valuation approach model that reflects the probability and timing of future issuances of our common shares.

Interest Income

Interest income is primarily related to interest earned on our marketable securities for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019.  

Interest Expense

Interest expense relates to interest on the Loan Agreement entered into during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Other Income (Expense), Net

We held an equity investment in an entity called Ascentage Pharma Group International, or Ascentage International, an affiliate of a Hong Kong based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company called Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Limited. In October 2019, Ascentage International completed an initial public offering of shares of its common stock on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Following the initial public offering, the underlying nature of our investment in Ascentage International changed and met the definition of an investment in an equity security with a readily determinable fair value to be measured at fair value on a recurring basis, based on quoted stock prices available on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we sold our entire equity investment in Ascentage International. Other expense in 2020 includes the recognized gains and losses resulting from the sale of the investment in this equity security and the previous changes in fair value, while other expense in 2021 includes the commitment share expenses related to the equity purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund and the debt extinguishment loss from the conversion of debt to equity.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

The following table sets forth the significant components of our results of operations (in thousands):